A day after the whirlwind events that took place in the cabinet reshuffle, some normal service has resumed in the power corridors of New Delhi as new ministers start taking charge of their respective new ministries. One of the biggest names to be shown the door was the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar.
The former minister was forced to tender his resignation ahead of the reshuffle, knowing the inevitable. His term mired by several controversies, led to his ouster as Prime Minister Narendra Modi replaced him with a much younger face in ex-BJP Youth Morcha President Anurag Thakur.
“I am thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah for giving me this chance. All possible efforts will be made to fulfil the duties,” Thakur said after taking oath on Wednesday.
Anurag Thakur had been Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs under Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman since 2019 and in addition to I&B Ministry, he has been given the charge of Kiren Rijiju’s Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry as well.
Although at the fag end of his stint as the I&B minister, Javadekar managed to bring in revised IT rules for the OTT platforms but he still couldn’t stop the Urduwood factory from churning anti-Hindu content at a routine pace.
Even when anti-Hindu web series like Tandav, Sacred Games ran riot with their controversial content, Prakash Javadekar remained steadfast on taking a non-confrontational approach. Sometimes, a minister has to show who the boss is but Javadekar, on several occasions, failed to step up.
TFI, in one of its op-eds dated January 17, 2021 had iterated, “Appeasement of those who are hell-bent to destroy you will achieve only one end – your destruction. The I&B Minister must realise this. Inaction against anti-Hindu elements of Indian society is tremendously emboldening them. Letting them have a free-run for so long was understandable, to an extent,”
Read More: Dear Javadekar, stop OTT apps from making anti-Hindu web series like Tandav or resign
While Javadekar failed to gauge the pulse of the public, a relatively young leader in Anurag Thakur known for his aggressive style of politics might just be the leader required to turn the ministry and its functioning around.
The OTT platforms need to be shown that a hard taskmaster is on their heels and if they continue disparaging Hindus on the screens, then Thakur would set them in their place. Eyes would also be on the Hamirpur MP to clock in the changes the government is seeking to bring in by the draft Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 202.
Reported by TFI, the central government, last month, brought in the bill and opened it to the general public for comments until July 2. The bill draft seeks to grant revisionary powers to the government which enables it to “re-examine” films already cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The draft adds a provision on account of violation of Section 5B (1) (principles for guidance in certifying films) of the Act.
With Anurag Thakur at the helm of affairs, one can be hopeful that the Bill will become a legislature and that OTT platforms and other filmmakers would be put on a leash and stopped from regurgitating their obviously biased notions, in the garb of cinematic freedom.
