Kolkata: There were clear indications that the ruling Trinamool Congress was getting isolated from civil society and even some of the celebrities and intellectuals close to it after the West Bengal government on May 8 banned the screening of “The Kerala Story” in the state.
After the Supreme Court last week lifted the ban on its screening, the civil society and celebrities welcomed the apex court verdict and criticised the state government for its “undemocratic” approach to any creative work.
The first to go vocal against the ban was painter Subhaprasanna, known to be close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata since her days in the opposition during the previous Left Front government.
Immediately after the ban was imposed on May 8, Subhaprasanna criticised the decision and said that he had always been against any forced opposition to any creative work. His argument was that when the censor board has cleared the movie, he does not find any logic in the ban enforced by the state government. “The people should have the freedom of accepting or rejecting the movie,” he said.
Subhaprasanna then faced the ire of the Trinamool Congress leadership for airing his views in the media. After the Supreme Court on Thursday lifted the ban, Subhaprasanna became vocal again. “The verdict of the apex court has proved that I did not say anything illogical when the ban was imposed. I was in favour of the freedom of creative work. The Supreme Court had said the same thing. I still feel that people who are willing should have the liberty to watch it. Similarly, the people who want to abstain from watching should also have the same liberty. This freedom of choice should prevail,” he said.
According to actor-director Arindam Sil, also known for his proximity to the chief minister, such an observation from the apex court was inevitable. “At the end of the day, the choice should be left to the people of what to accept and what to reject,” Sil said.
Thespian Bivas Chakraborty said that the decision of the apex court was absolutely in the right direction. “There should not be any step to suppress any kind of creative work,” he said.
According to the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights, the state government’s apprehension about law and order problems if the screening of the movie continued was baseless, since there was not a single such incident in the first four days of the screening of the movie before the ban was imposed. “The decision to ban was directed by sheer political motives.”
Meanwhile, Trinamool spokesman Kunal Ghosh made a controversial statement on the apex court’s decision to lift the ban which has left the legal fraternity in the state quite perplexed. According to Ghosh, after the Supreme Court verdict the state government does not have any responsibility in the matter. “The state government took the precautionary step to prevent possible tension over the screening of the story. But after the lifting of the ban, the state government does not have any further responsibility,” Ghosh said.
According to Calcutta High Court counsel Kaushik Gupta, Ghosh’s statement does not hold any legal logic. “The state government’s duty is to ensure law and order in the state while ensuring the protection of expression of creative work. There cannot be “either or” in this matter.”
“The state government pointed out that there had been tension in Maharashtra over the screening of the movie. But that argument of the state government had fallen flat, since the apex court pointed out that despite that tension the Maharashtra government did not impose any ban on the screening. Then under what logic can the West Bengal government ban the screening when there had been no tension in the first four days of the screening of the movie before the ban was imposed,” Gupta said.
Political analyst Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay pointed out that the ban on “The Kerala Story” was a classic example of how the Trinamool Congress has retracted from its stand on the freedom of creative work during the previous Left Front regime.
“During the previous regime the stageshows of the Bengali version of George Orwell’s �Animal Farm’ directed by thespian Arpita Ghosh, who later became a Trinamool Congress MP, faced opposition from CPI(M) cadres. Mamata Banerjee had been vocal against the Left Front government then though the state government did not ban the shows. She also received the support of the civil society who were against the resistance to creative work. And now when her government is doing the same thing by banning the screening of �The Kerala Story’, the same intellectuals are opposing the move on the same ground. It is wrong for any ruler to take civil society, intellectuals and celebrities for granted,” he said.
IANS
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