Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday said that issuing violent threats and announcing rewards to physically harm someone were not acceptable in a democracy, PTI reported.
Though Naidu did not mention any specific incident, his comments come in the backdrop of threats of violence against actor Deepika Padukone and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali over their movie Padmavati. The vice president stressed that he was talking in a broader sense and not about one particular film. He then named movies such as Garam Hawa, Kissa Kursi Ka and Aandhi that were embroiled in controversies when they released.
“This is not acceptable in a democracy,” the vice president said at a literary event in New Delhi. “You have the right to protest in a democratic manner, go to the appropriate authorities...you cannot physically obstruct and cannot give violent threats. Let us not undermine the rule of law.”
Naidu added that while it was not right for protestors take law into their own hands, no one has the right to hurt the sentiments of others.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party’s chief media coordinator for Haryana, Suraj Pal Amu, on Saturday threatened West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for supporting Padmavati.
Invoking stories from Ramayana, he said, “I want to tell her [Mamata Banerjee] that this is the land of Lord Ram’s brother, Lakshman. And I don’t need to mention what Lakshman did to Surpanaka.”
According to legend, Laskhman had severed the nose of Ravana’s sister Surpanaka in a bid to teach her a lesson.
Last week, he had said that he would give Rs 10 crore to anyone who beheads actor Padukone and Bhansali. A leader of the Rajput Karni Sena, which has called for a ban on the movie for allegedly distorting history, had also threatened to cut off Padukone’s nose.
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