From Benares to Bhopal

IN INVITING FILMMAKER Ms. Deepa Mehta to shoot her controversial film - Water- in Madhya Pradesh and promising her adequate security to do so, its Chief Minister, Mr. Digvijay Singh, has sent a forceful signal to that fanatical quarter which, after having forced the discontinuation of the shooting in Varanasi by resorting to violence, is now threatening to prevent it from being filmed anywhere in the country. Initiatives such as this are extremely valuable - particularly in a milieu where rabid elements take the law into their own hands, seemingly with the complicity of those who are expected to enforce it. By demonstrating a willingness to take on the fanatics, Mr. Singh has displayed a courageous resolve which has been totally missing on the part of both the Central and the Uttar Pradesh Governments.

It is not clear whether Mr. Digvijay Singh's bold offer - which has been followed by a similar invitation from the former Chief Minister of Bihar, Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav - will be accepted by Ms. Deepa Mehta. His invitation has been accompanied by naked threats from the same bigoted quarters. The cacophony, if anything, has become only uglier with those such as the BJP's bellicose MP, Ms. Uma Bharati, warning that the crew of Water would be stoned if shooting were to take place in Madhya Pradesh, which is also her home State. The protestors have clearly upped the ante; quite apparently, they have begun measuring their own (brute) strength in terms of how successfully they can prevent the filming of Water. This is why it is so important that Ms. Deepa Mehta's tale of widowhood and prostitution is not aborted but made. After the controversy of the kind the nation has witnessed, Water is no longer just another film. It is a test of whether freedom of creative expression will prevail over the forces of repression and censorship. Perhaps more importantly, it is a test of whether the rule of law will prevail over rule of the mob.

Given the dimensions that the controversy over the film has attained, Mr. Vajpayee's Government cannot behave as if it is a mere law and order problem that should be dealt with at a localised level. The seemingly accommodative position it has struck - for example, according fresh clearance for the script of the film in exchange for a few marginal cuts - is beginning to look more and more like a farcical disguise. It is reprehensible that not one stern word emanates from the higher echelons of the Central Government when a senior BJP leader such as Ms. Uma Bharati speaks the language of violence or when bigwigs in the Ram Prakash Gupta Ministry openly side with those who ransacked the sets of Water at Varanasi. Quite remarkably, Mr. Vajpayee, who arguably represents the relatively more moderate face of the BJP, has refrained from directly condemning those guilty of violence or those who have adopted threatening postures. His silence is now beginning to assume a deafening character.

The controversy over Water appears to have totally blurred the somewhat indistinct edges between the moderate and the extremist groups within the Sangh Parivar. It is time that the Prime Minister and other BJP leaders who occupy high positions in the Government clarify exactly what their position is vis-a-vis the violent protests against the film. The manner in which the controversy has played itself out points at only two possibilities - that the BJP bigwigs at the Centre have been either totally unable to control the rabid elements in their own parivar or that they have arrived at a furtive compact with them. Either way, it shows up those who run this country in an extraordinarily poor light.

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Section  : Opinion
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