The row in Kerala over the Supreme Court order making it mandatory for the audience to stand up in respect to the National Anthem at movie halls worsened on Wednesday with the BJP singing the Anthem in the street during a protest against filmmaker Kamal, chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, accusing him of trying to sabotage the order and film buffs staging demonstrations in Thiruvananthapuram in his defence.
The issue had erupted on Monday evening after the Museum Police in Thiruvananthapuram detained 11 delegates to the ongoing 21st International film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) from an auditorium for not standing up while the National Anthem was being played prior to the screening of a film there. The film festival is being organized by the Chalachitra Academy.
Reacting to the incident, Kamal had said that the Academy would not allow plainclothes policemen to keep vigil on the audience inside the festival movie halls and that it was unfortunate that the national anthem should be played before each film screening at the festival in which up to 20 films could be screened every day.
Hundreds of BJP and Yuva Morcha workers took out a protest march on Wednesday to the house of Kamal in Kodungallur in Thrissur district accusing the filmmaker of trying to sabotage the court order relating to the National Anthem and shouting slogans which alleged that Kamal was a communalist who disrespected the National Anthem.
The protestors alleged that the Chalachitra Academy chairman had taken a stand that the National Anthem need not be played before the screening of films at the IFFK. They also charged that Kamal, patron of a local film society, was behind the person who had approached the apex court seeking exemption for the IFFK from the order on the National Anthem.
As the police blocked the protestors some 100 metres away from Kamal’s house, the BJP-Yuva Morcha workers staged a dharna by sitting on the road. At the end of the dharna, all of them sang the National Anthem much to the surprise of the onlookers.
Speaking to newsmen in Thiruvananthapuram, Kamal charged the BJP-Yuva Morcha activists with disrespecting the National Anthem by using it as a tool of protest. “Isn’t it wrong to use National Anthem for the purpose of protestingIJ Is the Anthem something they can use as they likeIJ Is it their private property which they can use at places of their choiceIJ” he asked.
The Kerala Police have reportedly initiated an inquiry into the singing of the National Anthem by the BJP-Yuva Morcha workers during the protest on the basis of an allegation that they had disrespected the Anthem. The State Director General of Police is said to have asked the Superintendent of Police, Thrissur to file a report on the matter.
“I am not against playing of the National Anthem at movie halls. We are all patriots and it is not for others to decide whether we are patriots. Nobody had raised any protest against the Anthem in the IFFK movie halls. Some people had not stood up when the Anthem was being played. The Academy is not responsible for that,” the filmmaker said.
The Yuva Morcha held a protest march against Kamal in Thiruvananthapuram also during which they burned the filmmaker’s effigy. Film buffs participating in the IFFK also held demonstrations declaring solidarity with Kamal.
Observers are of the opinion that the controversy over the Supreme Court order on how to respect the National Anthem at movie halls is most likely to haunt the film festival till its culmination on December 16. “I am eager to see how the police are going to deal with the situation,” said a noted film critic.