Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's Advisor on National Affairs and Media, Harcharan Bains, on Thursday said that the state government "wholeheartedly welcomes any effort that adds to its own efforts towards fighting the drug problems and spreading awareness against it. This includes any feature or documentary film or television programmes or other media efforts."
Referring specifically to the controversy around the release of the film Udta Punjab, Bains in a statement here said that the Punjab Government “has always maintained that it had nothing to do with the controversy nor had it ever commented in any way on or against the movie”.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal have repeatedly and formally stated that they had not even seen the movie and there was no question of their commenting on it without actually seeing it. That stand remains unchanged, he added
Bains, however, said that he hoped the film would “not demonise the youth of the State and that its intent and flow would be in the direction of our own ongoing war on drugs. Anything, including this movie that lends strength to our efforts is welcome.”
The Chief Minister's Advisor said that the Punjab government and the parties that comprise it are “strongly committed to the freedom of speech and of artistic representation of reality or even perceived reality.”