In a veiled attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Union Minister Manish Tewari on Sunday claimed that Punjabi farmers were being threatened and coerced to move out of Gujarat by the “fascist forces” who were in power there.
The Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting warned against the fascist forces, saying that they posed a threat to free thinking and cultural development in the country.
“Freedom of thought and expression and the cultural development are always the first target of such forces,” the ludhiana MP said, while addressing a function on Sunday. “Punjabi farmers in Gujarat are being threatened and coerced to move out by the fascist forces who are in power there, despite various courts having ruled in their favour,” Tewari said.
Several farmers from Punjab and Haryana, who had shifted to Gujarat, fear that they would displaced from the State.
In 2010, Kutch Collector invoked the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural lands Act of 1948 and froze the accounts of an unspecified number of non-Gujarati farmers. The affected farmers moved the High Court and got relief from the court in 2012, but Gujarat Government moved the apex court challenging the relief.
Tewari appealed to the people to ensure that such forces were not allowed to raise their head. A place like Punjab, particularly ludhiana, which had produced great artists like Sahir ludhianvi should feel more concerned about the rise of such forces whose first target will be free thinking, the Minister said.
Tewari also asked the Punjab Government to come out with a proposal for facilitating the setting up of a Punjabi film industry “anywhere in Punjab”.
“We don’t mind even if they set up it in Bathinda, as long as it is in Punjab,” Tewari remarked in his characteristic satirical style, with an oblique reference to the Akalis’ reported “obsession” to take all the development projects to Bathinda.
Making out a strong case for producing Punjabi films in the State only, he pointed out, like the Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Bangla movies were made in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Bangalore and Kolkata respectively, there was no reason why Punjabi films should not be produced in Punjab.
Tewari said that his Ministry would provide all the support required in setting up the Punjabi film industry in the State. “If Punjab Government takes the initiative, the Ministry can consider setting up the regional film Censor Board in Chandigarh that will cater to the regional, particularly the needs of Punjabi cinema,” he said.