With the Bollywood film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil makers and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) reaching a “settlement” over its release, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders who seem
With the Bollywood film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil makers and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) reaching a “settlement” over its release, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders who seem to be disgruntled.
MNS’ protest against Pakistani artistes was expected to bolster its sagging political fortunes, and at the same time erode the Shiv Sena’s vote bank.
However, with the protest culminating in a settlement — donate Rs 5 crore to army welfare fund and screen a message honouring soldiers before the beginning of the movie — brokered by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, observers said MNS had conceded its momentum before the upcoming civic body polls.
The Raj Thackeray-led party was the first to oppose Pakistani artistes working in India and it had also threatened producers engaging with them. For long, the Shiv Sena has always been at the forefront in raising issues regarding Pakistani artistes and players. A case in point is their opposition to Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali performing live in Mumbai last year. However, this time, MNS stole their thunder, intensifying its protest. The BJP-led government chose to remain a mute spectator.
The stoic stance by the BJP has set tongues wagging. “Shiv Sena’s issue was hijacked by the MNS, which is desperate to make a comeback before the BMC polls. Sena had distanced itself from the controversy and MNS got the advantage of gaining sympathy over popular sentiments,” a BJP leader said on the condition of anonymity.
Not only MNS, even BJP leaders were seen riding the nationalism wave. BJP’s city chief Ashish Shelar demanded that Pakistani artistes should not be given work visas. He had also congratulated the Cine Theatre Owners Association for its decision to not release films with Pakistani artistes.
However, the chief minister’s intervention in the matter, inviting Mr Thackeray, has surprised many even in the BJP. At Saturday’s meeting, Mr Thackeray, along with the representatives of the producers’ guild and director Karan Johar, reached a settlement. MNS claimed that it had put some conditions for the smooth release of Karan Johar’s movie starring Pakistani artist Fawad Khan.
Mr Thackeray drew a lot of flak from all sections for withdrawing the protest against the movie and giving his nod to its release. “The sympathy that MNS received was lost yesterday after it said okay to the release of the movie. The move will neither benefit the party nor will it damage Shiv Sena in any way as expected earlier,” another BJP leader said on the condition of anonymity.
