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‘Aaja Nachle’ lyrics derogatory to Dalits: U.P.

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday banned Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit’s comeback film ‘Aaja Nachle’ alleging the lyrics of a song in the movie were derogatory to Dalits.

Highly placed government sources said here that Chief Minister Mayawati had written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that the film be banned all over the country.

The screening of the film was stopped here after the ban was imposed.

The Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary, Shailesh Krishna, on being asked, said the film had been banned because there was an objectionable reference to a caste in its title song. “The reference to the caste is not only objectionable and humiliating but also unconstitutional and therefore the screening of the film has been banned in Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

In New Delhi, activists of a Dalit outfit Indian Justice Party on Friday staged a demonstration against the movie alleging that the lyrics of a song hurt the Dalits. Party president Udit Raj threatened to move the court against the screening of the movie.

The protest was staged by the party at PVR Plaza cinema hall in Connaught Place this afternoon. — PTI

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