Film star Shah Rukh Khan making an on-duty lady constable in uniform to dance with him in a Kolkata Police function right in front of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has not only kicked up a storm in the political circles but also sent a rumbling of discontent within one of India’s oldest police forces once compared with their Scotland Yard counterparts.
“This is obnoxious. How can the Chief Minister allow this to happen right in front of her eyes! A film star is a film star. But one has to remember it at the same time that he is dealing with a uniformed force that represents State authority. You cannot do that to a police person, a lady constable. It is certainly not promoting art and culture. Rather it amounts to belittling the State authority. It also shows what sustained indulgence given by the Chief Minister to a section of the film fraternity can lead to,” said CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakrabarty.
BJP State president Rahul Sinha said the Chief Minister “is more comfortable among the artists rather than the artisans. So how can Bengal industrialise. Sooner she retires to the fold of the artists and resigns from her post the better. This act of her will do good both to the cause of the industry and performing art.”
Khan, who is also the brand ambassador of Bengal, lifted an on-duty lady constable and made her dance to the tunes of Jab Tak Hei Jaan in a function organised by the Kolkata Police at Netaji Indoor Stadium late on Saturday evening. The stadium filled chock-a-bloc erupted when Khan offered the constable flower — the Othello style — before picking her up on his shoulders for dance.
“Ours is a disciplined force whose job is to maintain peace and order in the society. The police have to maintain their dignified position in front of the public for the job they do. The police cannot act like a roadside Romeo neither it can allow itself to be used like that. One wonders what honour a disciplined force carries in the eyes of our celebrities,” said a senior IPS officer of the IGP rank requesting anonymity and reporting that there is a “hushed rumbling of discontent among the police personnel.”
Another senior officer asked “what will we do if a Chai Wallah does it to a lady cop tomorrowIJ He will show today’s act as precedence. Will we be able to book the person even under Section 354IJ” Such acts amounted to insulting the uniform he maintained.
Nirupam Sen, a former Kolkata Police Commissioner who retired 30 years ago said, “If I were there as the CPI would not have allowed this. But then one must try to understand the reason and the circumstance shy the present Police Commissioner allowed this to happen.”
Khan who is also the owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders had two years ago tried to make the Chief Minister and then Governor MK Narayanan dance with him at the Eden Gardens when his team won the IPl. Then also it generated a lot of controversy when he planted a kiss on the head of the Chief Minister, who occupies a constitutional post.
Banerjee had said in the function that instead of criticising the police force “we should understand the police force who sacrifice the prime moments of their lives to ensure the safety of the people.”