A day after #BoycottKBC trended on Twitter over a question asked on Kaun Banega Crorepati, a complaint has reportedly been registered against the show’s host, actor Amitabh Bachchan, as well as the makers, for “hurting Hindu sentiments”. The complaint has reportedly been filed in Lucknow. According to Jagran newspaper, the complaint was filed by Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha.
The question, which was for Rs 6,40,000, was asked to activist Bezwada Wilson and TV show host and actor Anup Soni on season 12 of the show in the Karamvir special episode aired on Friday. It asked which book and its copies had Dr BR Ambedkar and his followers burnt on December 25, 1927. The options were Vishnu Purana, Bhagvad Gita, Rigved, and Manusmriti, where the latter was the right answer.
After the episode aired, many right-wing accounts expressed outrage over the question, saying that it was “hinduphobic”. Director Vivek Agnihotri had posted a clip of the show where the question was asked, and said, “KBC has been hijacked by Commies. Innocent kids, learn this is how culture wars are win. It's called coding. (sic)"
Several people also tweeted at Amitabh Bachchan, saying that this was not expected from him, while other called the question disrespectful for “Indian culture”. Many people called for boycotting Bachchan as well.
However, some people had also defended the question saying that it was simply about an incident documented in history and there was nothing that could be changed about it.
Last year, KBC had landed in controversy after a question had referred to Chhatrapati Shivaji in the options to a question just as ‘Shivaji’. The question was about the contemporaries of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the 17th century. Sony had acknowledged and apologised for the same