Lucknow: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said that if those announcing bounties on Bhansali’s head are wrong, then the director himself is also wrong. “The Censor Board should respect the sentiments of the 22 crore people of UP. We have already written to the Centre to point out the issues with the film. If announcing a bounty on Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s head is wrong, then Bhansali is also wrong on his part,” he said.

He stated that the director should be held guilty of hurting the sentiments of the people.

“If there is any action, it will be against both the sides. Bhansali is habitual of playing with public sentiments,” he added.

Mr Yogi, however, said no one has the right to take law into their own hands. He also asserted that ban on the movie will remain. He expressed hope that CBFC will respect sentiments of 22 core people of UP.

The statement comes just two days after deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said that the state would not allow the film’s release in UP, unless the “controversial scenes” were removed. “As an entertainment tax minister also, I can say that we will not let the movie e release in UP unless its controversial portions are removed”, Mr Maurya said. The Yogi government had asked the Centre to defer the release of the movie on December 1 as it could lead to a law and order situation in the state.

SP spokesperson Sunil Singh Sajan, reacted strongly to the CM’s statement. “We support the fact that history should not be distorted in any way, but at the same time it looks like chief minister is trying to hide his failures by raising the Padmavati issue unnecessarily”.  

The SP leader added, “He is talking about sentiments of 22 crore people, but is Padmavati the actual issue that these 22 crore people in Uttar Pradesh are bothered about...?