Senior Punjab BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia on Sunday lauded the Badal government for its timely action to ban the controversial film 'Sadda Haq' in the interest of hard-earned peace in the state.
In a statement, Kalia said the neighbouring states of Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and the union territory of Chandigarh had appreciated Punjab's action by following suit.
Kalia said it was quite strange that the Central Board of Film Certification had failed to do its job (of banning the movie) despite the fact that the union ministry of information and broadcasting is headed by Manish Tewari, "who himself belongs to a martyr's family as his father Prof VN Tiwari was among those whose sacrifices helped in bringing peace to Punjab".
The Akali-BJP government hit the nail on the head by banning the screening of the film that "hurts the sentiments and emotions of every Punjabi as well as of every nationalist", the former state cabinet minister added.
Kalia added that the decade of terrorism was now an era gone by, and no one in Punjab wanted to reopen the closed chapter of turmoil.
{{/usCountry}}Kalia added that the decade of terrorism was now an era gone by, and no one in Punjab wanted to reopen the closed chapter of turmoil.
{{/usCountry}}Hailing chief minister Parkash Singh Badal for his decision, Kalia chided the Punjab Congress for failing to come out of the rut of blame game: "Had the Congress learnt a lesson from the past, its state chief Partap Singh Bajwa would have taken the lead to approach the Centre for a ban on the inflammatory film."