12-06-2004, 01:59 AM
Advani blacked out of Jha's Loknayak
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->When Doordarshan decided to telecast Loknayak on Sunday night in a prime time slot, it was assumed that the controversy surrounding Prakash Jha's documentation of Jai Prakash Narayan's life and the dark days of Emergency, would finally settle down. But in a decision that is bound to keep the pot boiling, the Prasar Bharati altogether blacked out the interview of leader of Opposition LK Advani.   Â
Sources told The Pioneer that Mr Advani's interview figured in two segments of the original draft of the film submitted by Mr Prakash Jha to Prasar Bharati. In his interview, Mr Advani reminisced about JP's role in the `second freedom struggle' and took a dig at the intelligence agencies for convincing Indira Gandhi that she would sweep the post-Emergency Lok Sabha polls. However, no portion of the interview figured in the one-hour forty-five minute telecast.
The eleventh hour removal of Mr Advani's name is in addition to several others changes that the Prasar Bharati carried out in the original draft of the film. For example, a quote of Chandigarh District Magistrate Deva Shayam that in order to disable an ailing JP, Sanjay Gandhi had ensured that he did not get proper treatment in the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Research, Chandigarh was removed.
Of course, this was done with the consent of Mr Prakash Jha, who was convinced by the Prasar Bharati officials that retaining the allegation will could be defamatory and leave open the possibilities of legal actions.
The film carried interviews of only three BJP leaders - Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sushil Kumar Modi and Ravishanker Prasad - contrary to allegations that it was a Saffron-dominated propaganda commissioned by the previous NDA Government. Veteran Jansangh leader Navajo Deshmukh makes a fleeting appearance in the closing second of the film.
Just one line of Mr Deshmukh's interview has been retained and a scene showing Navajo Deshmukh sheltering JP from police lathicharge on December 4, 1974 in Patna, was removed altogether. It is a recorded fact that Navajo bore the full brunt of police brutality and his hand was fractured during the incident.
The episode is remembered as one of the most poignant moments of the JP movement. Those from the non-BJP camps whose interviews have been included are former Prime Minister Chandrasekhar, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, journalist Kuldip Nayyar, RJD leader Shivanand Tewari, Nirmala Deshpande, Sarvodya leader and JP's close associate Ramamurti, secretary of Gandhi Pratisthan, Patna, Dr Razi Ahmad, JP's secretary DR Satchitanand and several others.
Says former Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravishanker Prasad, who had commissioned the film to Prakash Jha. "I am angry and saddened that a man of the stature of Mr Advani, who shared a close association with JP does not figure in the film.
The decision shows the petty attitude of the UPA government," he said. In his life time, the veteran freedom fighter and Socialist icon whose call for 'Sampoorn Kranti' stirred the imagination of the nation in the early 70s and led to the imposition of Emergency, was jailed and tormented by the Congress regime. Ironically, three decades later, again a Congress-led regime has chosen to play a farce with JP's life history.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->When Doordarshan decided to telecast Loknayak on Sunday night in a prime time slot, it was assumed that the controversy surrounding Prakash Jha's documentation of Jai Prakash Narayan's life and the dark days of Emergency, would finally settle down. But in a decision that is bound to keep the pot boiling, the Prasar Bharati altogether blacked out the interview of leader of Opposition LK Advani.   Â
Sources told The Pioneer that Mr Advani's interview figured in two segments of the original draft of the film submitted by Mr Prakash Jha to Prasar Bharati. In his interview, Mr Advani reminisced about JP's role in the `second freedom struggle' and took a dig at the intelligence agencies for convincing Indira Gandhi that she would sweep the post-Emergency Lok Sabha polls. However, no portion of the interview figured in the one-hour forty-five minute telecast.
The eleventh hour removal of Mr Advani's name is in addition to several others changes that the Prasar Bharati carried out in the original draft of the film. For example, a quote of Chandigarh District Magistrate Deva Shayam that in order to disable an ailing JP, Sanjay Gandhi had ensured that he did not get proper treatment in the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Research, Chandigarh was removed.
Of course, this was done with the consent of Mr Prakash Jha, who was convinced by the Prasar Bharati officials that retaining the allegation will could be defamatory and leave open the possibilities of legal actions.
The film carried interviews of only three BJP leaders - Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sushil Kumar Modi and Ravishanker Prasad - contrary to allegations that it was a Saffron-dominated propaganda commissioned by the previous NDA Government. Veteran Jansangh leader Navajo Deshmukh makes a fleeting appearance in the closing second of the film.
Just one line of Mr Deshmukh's interview has been retained and a scene showing Navajo Deshmukh sheltering JP from police lathicharge on December 4, 1974 in Patna, was removed altogether. It is a recorded fact that Navajo bore the full brunt of police brutality and his hand was fractured during the incident.
The episode is remembered as one of the most poignant moments of the JP movement. Those from the non-BJP camps whose interviews have been included are former Prime Minister Chandrasekhar, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, journalist Kuldip Nayyar, RJD leader Shivanand Tewari, Nirmala Deshpande, Sarvodya leader and JP's close associate Ramamurti, secretary of Gandhi Pratisthan, Patna, Dr Razi Ahmad, JP's secretary DR Satchitanand and several others.
Says former Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravishanker Prasad, who had commissioned the film to Prakash Jha. "I am angry and saddened that a man of the stature of Mr Advani, who shared a close association with JP does not figure in the film.
The decision shows the petty attitude of the UPA government," he said. In his life time, the veteran freedom fighter and Socialist icon whose call for 'Sampoorn Kranti' stirred the imagination of the nation in the early 70s and led to the imposition of Emergency, was jailed and tormented by the Congress regime. Ironically, three decades later, again a Congress-led regime has chosen to play a farce with JP's life history.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->