Even as doctors in Tamil Nadu mount protests against Vijay-starrer Mersal, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has lashed out at the Center, asking the Prime Minister not to “demonetise Tamil pride” with their interference.
Congress MP P Chidambaram joined the party vice president in tweeting against the BJP’s attempt to censor scenes in the film which the BJP claims misleads audiences about GST and the Digital India initiative.
Apart from the Congress, more voices from the opposition, including DMK working President MK Stalin, and the Aam Aadmi Party have questioned what they term the BJP’s attempt to “muzzle dissent”.
The BJP's National Secretary, H Raja, brought up actor Vijay's Christian roots in a tweet, in reference to one of the actor's dialogues in the movie.
In the last 20 years, 17,500 churches, 9,700 mosques and 370 temples were built. Out of these what should be avoided to build hospital?H Raja, BJP National Secretary
Raja even said Mersal shows Vijay's ignorance in economic matters, as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is not a new tax, and the tax on liquor is over 58 percent.
Besides him, Tamil Nadu BJP President Tamilisai Soundarajan demanded the removal of dialogues relating to GST, digital payments, and temples, from the movie as they spread the wrong message.
While the political back-and-forth continues over the movie, doctors in Tamil Nadu have taken to sharing pirated copies of the movie to boycott it and affect its earnings. They claim that the movie portrays doctors in a negative light.
Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar questioned why the Congress Vice President, who attacked the Modi government over Mersal, remained silent when outrage peaked over Indu Sarkar for “portraying former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in a bad light”
Mersal, which released on 18 October, has raked in over Rs 43.50 crore in its first few days alone, according to industry tracker Ramesh Bala.
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