New Delhi, Jan 12 The political divisions in the Hindi film industry is not a new phenomenon but the bifurcation came to the fore yet again post JNU violence when tweets went viral around a debate whether "Bollywood got JNU-ised".
One netizen summed up the paradox well - "Right Wing - Lets go for Tanhaji, Left Wing - Lets go for Chhapaak".
The missive refers to actress Deepika Padukone's clash with another Bollywood star Ajay Devgan whose film 'Tanhaji - the Unsung Warrior' also got released on Friday, January 10. It was actress Swara Bhasker who had tweeted: "Bollywood just got JNU-ised" and this was related to actress Deepika Padukone's visit to the JNU campus to express solidarity with Leftist students.
The issue figured in TV debates and Twitteratis have been so active that Ms Padukone captured page 1 in news papers easily as several BJP leaders also made a beeline attacking the actress and even called for ban on her film 'Chhapaak'.
Bollywood watchers maintain the 'division' in Bollywood had actually come to the fore on the eve of 2014 polls when about 60 film stars wrote open letter urging voters to vote against Narendra Modi and the BJP.
The stars included the likes of Nandita Das, Imtiaz Ali, Vishal Bhardwaj, Govind Nihalani, Saeed Mirza, Zoya Akhtar, Kabir Khan and Mahesh Bhatt.
Scriptwriter Anjum Rajabali, who drafted the letter in April 2014 had said they were 'compelled' to speak up as the right wing fundamentalist forces were making young people feel very insecure.
There was the other version too. Anupam Kher has been vocal in favour of Mr Modi and who later also acted in a film that made fun of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
Kher's wife Kirron Kher is now two-time BJP lawmaker from Chandigarh.
Films have made news politically earlier as well. Gulzar's 1975 film 'Aandhi' starring Suchitra Sen and Sanjeev Kumar was banned by Indira Gandhi.
Gulzar's another film 'Maachis' released in 1996 focused on police excesses surrounding the rise of Sikh militancy.
Picking up as many as 75 seats in the 117-member state assembly, Akali Dal had stormed to power in Punjab ousting the Congress in the 1997 assembly elections.
In fact, the ruling BJP has been tirelessly working to change people's perception about the Citizenship Amendment Act and for this, they have reached out to a number of Bollywood stakeholders.
BJP vice-president and an articulate leader Baijayant Jay Panda took the initiative at the directives of party bosses and met several Hindi film industry personalities including Prasoon Joshi, singer Shaan, Ranvir Shorey, Ritesh Sidhwani and Abhishek Kapoor in a Mumbai Hotel and gave them a briefing about the CAA.
"....was invited to understand, clear doubts and share our thoughts on CAA. We were not there as BJP spokespeople but citizens seeking answers," Shaan tweeted later.
Noted ad film director Prahlad Kakkar has said youngsters need to be explained in details about the CAA.
"Youngsters do not realise that the Supreme Court is giving CAA due weight on humanitarian grounds. They don't realise that even America has a religious persecution humanitarian law. We need to explain them better," he has said.
In fact, the ruling dispensation has 'good connections' with the Bollywood as several actresses and actors are part and parcel of the party both within the organisation and in Parliament.
Stars like Hema Malini and Roopa Ganguly are its lawmakers and playback singer turned neta from Asansol in West Bengal Babul Supriyo is Union Minister of State for Environment.
Actress Kangana Ranaut does not mind calling herself a 'Narendra Modi fan' and has often ended up in row for her comments on political matters.
Film star Akshay Kumar is similarly known to be close to the ruling dispensation.
The other side is not behind in politico-Bollywood issues.
"Chhapaak is not about an artist but 1,000 women who suffer acid attacks on their body and soul every year. Isn't this the same?" Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Puducherry have announced tax relief to Deepika Padukone-produced film 'Chhapaak'.
In 2019, Aditya Dhar’s "Uri: The Surgical Strike" made news for more reasons than one.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the then Defence Minister, had tweeted a series of videos from a cinema hall in Bengaluru and used the film's tagline -- ''How's the josh?'' .... and the results as the BJP supporters say came in the form of enhanced mandate for the BJP.
Left unity and students: Red Brigades getting hold of the plot well
New Delhi, Jan 11 The immortal words of Karl Marx: "Political power, properly so called, is merely the organized power of one class for oppressing another" - must be echoing in each of the communist's hearts and minds in Indian context today when they sweat it out against the Modi government.
The Leftists are playing the best game - they know - anchoring the opposition unity; but all these and more have come at a time when the communists are facing a major challenge of 'ultimate extinction'.
The Leftists - which ruled supreme in West Bengal - are now seen as a spent force in the state as the contest is confined between Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress and the the BJP. The communists are out of power in Tripura after 25-year of rule and could lose out their last bastion Kerala next year (2021) to Congress-led UDF.
This image of Leftists is in sharp contrast to their glorious past. In post-Independent politics, the CPI-M in particular and Leftists in general, were most powerful political combine next only to the Congress.
Even as late as 1990s and later post-2004, the Leftists had their significant position in running of country's affairs and politics.
Not long ago, Late D P Tripathi (NCP) used to say his party's dream of coming to power in Delhi with Sharad Pawar as the Prime Minister cannot be fulfilled without the support of the Left parties.
The communists helped VP Singh defeat Rajiv Gandhi and in 2004, they helped Manmohan Singh run a successful UPA-I dispensation and the government had some good works like MGNREGA to its credit as well.
However, the Leftists ideology has today found back the relevance in Indian politics - and more so as the campaign against the Modi government has gained momentum and reached varsity campuses.
It is in view of this growing acceptability of Leftists ideology among students that Mamata Banerjee is irked. She has announced that she will not come for January 13 opposition leaders meet in Delhi.
The BJP has predictably mocked about this move with party spokesman Sambit Patra stating that there is 'competitive' appeasement among opposition parties and everyone is eyeing the Muslim votes.
For the Leftist detractors - that is the BJP and the Sangh parivar organisations - these anti-BJP campaign and violence have come "not without good reason".
"....But there is a coincidence and we feel the CPI(M) is working hard for broader Left unity and specially with the CPI," says a source in the Swadeshi Jagran Manch.
These elements also give credit for the same to CPI (Marxists) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
"Flexibility has been Yechury's trump card always unlike many senior Marxists and this is being used to bring about a purposeful Left unity and students' support base is only helping him to find greater relevance for the communism ideology," says another BJP source.
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The Left parties - CPI (M), CPI, CPI (ML), All India Froward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Socialist Unity Centre of India - in April 2018 had called for a wider, secular, democratic and Left platform which should include large sections of democratic people, intellectuals, minorities and Dalits to defeat the “fascist and communal policies” of the BJP.
In his call for unity of Leftist forces, Mr Yechury had said in Kollam, Kerala that there was a need to pursue the tactical line so that the Left parties can foster 'joint actions of class and mass organisations', in such a manner that can draw in the masses following the 'Congress and other bourgeois parties'.
The protest over CAA and JNU violence give glimpses of 'success' of that tactical line as communism is no longer a 'bad and outdated word' for the urbane educated and English speaking elites -- who not long ago had overwhelmingly discarded the doctrine which calls for 'struggle' against rich and powerful.
Even the oft-repeated phrases 'urban Naxals' and 'Tukde Tukde gang' have not discouraged the youngsters and even film stars and other celebrities.
Some Sangh parivar elements while analysing these say if Mr Yechury deserves a credit for bringing Left unity and giving the students a 'new idea' in their kind of politics, the other side of the story has been Prakash Karat.
"The hardcore adventurism of Karat had actually boomeranged," says one of them.
Even Left leaders in Bengal admit Karat was 'single-handedly' responsible for disallowing Jyoti Basu become Prime Minister in 1996 and later for withdrawal of support to the Manmohan Singh government in 2008.
However, the Congress and Left leaders in Tripura had complained that Yechury's decision to team up with Mamata Banerjee to oppose demonetisation had frustrated party workers on both sides.
But the real war has just begun. The Left leaders know it well that while 'some success' has been tasted in terms of mass protest against the CAA and also in the JNU; the BJP and Prime Minister Modi and his aide Amit Shah still have some advantage as they won the 'legislative' round in Parliament and the legal battle in Supreme Court is actually any body's guess.
ends
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