Amidst a raging controversy over the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena(MNS) diktat asking film producers employing Pakistani actors to pay Rs5 crore to Army welfare fund, two Central Ministers on Tuesday criticised such a demand. While Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said he does not appreciate “holding of someone’s neck” for donation, Minister for Information and Broadcasting M Venkaiah Naidu termed it as “wrong.”
The row erupted some days back after MNS held protest against film director Karan Johar’s forthcoming film ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. The film is slated for release later this week and MNS asked film producers employing Pakistani actors to contribute Rs5 crore to the Army fund. The Army had strongly protested against such a demand with several serving and retired officials calling it extortion and appealed that the Services should not be politicised.
Asserting that donations to the Army Welfare Fund Battle Casualties are voluntary, Parrikar said he does not appreciate “holding of someone’s neck.” Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the Navy Commanders’ Conference here, he said the concept behind the newly created Battle Casualty Fund was to ensure that all those people who wanted to donate voluntarily for welfare of the family of martyrs could do so.
The Fund was launched in June this year after several organisations and individuals came to forward to contribute their bit in the wake of several soldiers dying in an avalanche in Siachen. The draft of standard operating procedure for accepting and rejecting the contribution is now under the consideration of the Defence Ministry and the donors may also get income tax exemption, they said.
I&B Minister M Venkaiah Naidu termed as “wrong” the MNS demand of Rs5 crore from film director Karan Johar for resolving the controversy over his movie and said the Government had nothing to do with it.
“That was a wrong proposal. We don’t agree with their proposal. The Maharashtra Chief Minister has also clarified that he was not a part of the proposal that was made by some other party...,” Naidu told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.
Stressing that the matter was between “some party” and the “producer,” he said the Government do not “subscribe to that thinking at all and has no role to play.” Naidu also said it was the State Government’s duty to provide security as the law and order was a State subject adding Chief Minister Fadnavis has taken the initiative to amicably resolve the problem through discussion.