In another case of ‘distorted facts’ and ‘bounties’, a group of protestors from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the RSS backed Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM) allegedly blackened the walls of Sunil Singh’s residence, director of the controversial film Game of Ayodhya in Aligarh on Sunday. As a sign of protest, the Hindutva activists also put a lock on the filmmaker’s house. The film, essentially a docu-drama, Game of Ayodhya, tells an interfaith love story between a Hindu man and a Muslim woman in 1992 in Ayodhya against the backdrop of the Babri Masjid demolition. According to the protestors, the film depicts the Lord Ram statue being installed in a ‘deceitful’ manner in Ayodhya.
Amit Goswami, a member of the ABVP, announced a bounty of a lakh to anyone who would chop off the filmmaker’s hands.
“If the administration allows the release of the film, then it should also be responsible for anything that happens in the city. The film shows that the idols of Ram Lala were kept in the mosque by cheating. I will kill Sunil Singh if the movie is released and if I get to see him anywhere.”Amit Goswami, ABVP
“Today we have blackened the wall of Singh’s house. If he doesn’t back down, we will kill him.”Yogesh Varshney, city president of HJM in Aligarh
The film also documents the Ramjanmbhoomi agitation and contains actual footage from 6 December 1992, the day the Babri Masjid was demolished. The agitators have also claimed that if cinema halls were to screen the film, they would be set ablaze, just like the effigies of Sunil Singh were burnt in Aligarh.
The filmmaker is trying to get the film screened for the professors of the Aligarh Muslim University.
“The people who did this are self-proclaimed arbiters of religion. Police should have prevented them from committing these acts. If the Censor Board has approved the movie, who are they to stop its release? They are threatening to kill me and set fire to my house, and police has been keeping mum.”Sunil Singh, Filmmaker, Game of Ayodhya
The film was slated to release on 8 December 2017, two days after the 25th anniversary of the destruction of the Babri Masjid on December 6. “The film was denied certificate in January by the Central Board of Film Certification. I then moved the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal against this decision and the order was set aside in October. Now, I have decided to release the film all over India on December 8,” said Sunil Singh.
Source: The Indian Express
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