Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the BJP's demand for removal of dialogues critical of the GST in Tamil movie Mersal. He asked Modi not to "demon-etise Tamil pride" by such interference.
"Mr Modi, Cinema is a deep expression of Tamil culture and language. Don't try to demon-etise Tamil pride by interfering in Mersal," Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Modi, Cinema is a deep expression of Tamil culture and language. Don't try to demon-etise Tamil pride by interfering in Mersal
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) October 21, 2017
Gandhi's jibe comes after actor Vijay's Deepavali release Mersal was attacked by BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu.
The actor has been facing flak for his dialogues in the film that take a dig at GST and Digital India. Vijay, who had met Narendra Modi during electioneering ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, had even lauded demonetisation last year.
The BJP's National Secretary H Raja, sought to give a communal twist to the incident by raking up the actor's religion, while the state party President Tamilisai Soundararajan demanded removal of the dialogues relating to GST, digital payments and temples from the movie as they "spread a wrong message".
However, Vijay's film also received support from others, including DMK leader MK Stalin.
Taking to Twitter, Stalin said, "BJP's attempt to muzzle criticism is contrary to democratic principles. The DMK always stands for freedom of speech and creative expression".
BJP's attempt to muzzle criticism is contrary to democratic principles. The DMK always stands for freedom of speech & creative expression
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) October 21, 2017
Reacting to the two tweets, some also pointed out that both the Congress and the DMK had their own history of censoring and banning films.
ROFL. @kalaignar89 govt banned world famous #DaVinciCode movie in TN to appease churches. Now they talk about BJP pic.twitter.com/GOvL8X5IKz
— Ramesh Sethuraman (@rameshsethu) October 21, 2017
Says @OfficeOfRG whose Grandmom banned Kishore Kumar & banned Kissa Kursi Ka (which was expression of Hindi Culture) https://t.co/JS2bh1K5AX
— ShanoVaruna (@SMedia4) October 21, 2017
I guess its time to dig out the censorships that Mr.Karunanithi imposed on artistic freedom during his DMK Rule in Tamil Nadu. Shall start.
— SG Suryah (@SuryahSG) October 21, 2017
IANS inputs