Anti-Sikh film Emergency should be banned immediately: SGPC President

Amritsar: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) President Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami has demanded an immediate ban on the film ‘Emergency’, which portrays the character of Sikhs in a wrong way. He said that this film has been made by actress Kangana Ranaut, who remains in controversy due to her anti-Sikh and anti-Punjab expressions, with the intention of deliberately character assassinating Sikhs, which the Sikh community cannot tolerate.

Harjinder Singh Dhami said that by creating an anti-Sikh narrative about the great martyrs of June 1984, this is a despicable act of disrespecting the community. He said that the community can never forget the anti-Sikh brutality of June 1984 and Sant Jarnail Singh Khalsa Bhindranwale has been declared a Qaumi Shaheed (community’s martyr) by Sri Akal Takht Sahib, while Kangana Ranaut’s film is trying to character assassinate him. He said that Kangana Ranaut has often deliberately made expressions that provoke the sentiments of Sikhs, but instead of taking action against her, the government is protecting her. He said that the government should file a case against Kangana Ranaut for inciting religious sentiments of Sikhs for her act through the film Emergency.

Expressing strong objection, Harjinder Singh Dhami said that it is clear from the released excerpts of the Emergency film that it has deliberately misrepresented the character of Sikhs as separatists, which is part of a deep conspiracy.

The SGPC president said that on the one hand, the release of the film ‘Punjab ’95’, made on the life of human rights Sikh activist Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra, was not approved even after 85 cuts, while this Emergency film presenting false facts about Sikh community has been given clearance immediately. He said these double standards are not in the interest of the country, so the government needs to seriously discuss this issue.

Harjinder Singh Dhami said that there have been many such cases related to films in the past when Sikh sentiments have been hurt due to misrepresentation of Sikh characters and religious concerns of Sikhs. He demanded an immediate ban on the Emergency film of Kangana Ranaut from Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Shri Ashwini Vaishnav, and said that it should be ensured from now on that no film with anti-Sikh sentiments is released. Harjinder Singh Dhami called for the inclusion of Sikh members in the Central Board of Film Certification, as biased decisions are being taken due to the absence of a Sikh member. He said that the SGPC has earlier passed resolutions in its general meeting several times and demanded that a representative of Sikhs must be included in the Central Board of Film Certification, but it is sad that the government is not implementing the same. The SGPC President said that it is very important to ban this film because it is natural that the release of this film will cause a lot of anger and resentment in the Sikh community.