Ravi Shankar and Yatish Yadav By

The dance has ended, and the dancer has quit the stage along with her troupe but the political choreography has just begun. The resignation of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairman, Leela Samson, close confidante of Sonia Gandhi, her collaborator in the UPA’s cultural policy, and if scuttlebutt is to be believed, the one who taught Priyanka Gandhi Bharatanatyam, stated that she and her cohorts were quitting over inteference from the NDA government. All the 23 members were appointed by the Manmohan Singh led-UPA government—some when Ambika Soni and later when Manish Tewari were the I&B ministers. Samson’s argument is that the government meddled in the censor board’s functioning and it didn’t have the necessary funds even to hold meetings. However, it has been reliably learnt that Rs.24 lakh is still pending in the board’s account.

“It is strange that the chairperson of the censor board isn’t even aware of the fact that there are unused funds lying with the board to conduct its business,” said a senior ministry official. She is yet to surrender the funds.

Sources also said that Samson has not visited the censor board headquarters in Mumbai even once in 2014.

The mass resignations erupted when Dera Sachcha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim’s film MSG: Messenger of God was cleared by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) after the CBFC refused to give the green signal on religious grounds. Said Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore: “In the certification process, FCAT is the apex body, that is above CBFC. Where is the question of our inteference?”

Just days before her quitting, Samson cleared the film En Dino Muzaffarnagar on the 2013 communal riots, which is critical of the BJP and RSS. It was first rejected by the Kolkata regional centre of the censor board. Then, Kolkota-based filmmaker Meera Choudhary filed an appeal before FCAT, which rejected it stating it was too communal. Sources said Samson then used her authority to transfer En Dino’s certificate application from Kolkata to Mumbai. On her initiative, two censor board members Rajeev Masand and Raju Vaidya were drafted to clear the film. It was okayed with three minor audio cuts, but no visual was deleted.

“En Dino shows the BJP as being the party that started the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots for political and electoral gains. It shows posters and visuals of Modi and senior BJP leaders, with audio clips saying “BJP ne paisa batvaya, Modi jitao, suar bhagao, ya to jao Pakistan, Ya phir jao kabristan.”

Samson’s resignation however, amounts to a publicty farce—her term, as well as that of all the other members had already expired in March 2014. Rathore says it was the NDA which gave them an extension.

“We have stood with the censor board over the clearance of two controversial films recently. Now why do they blame the government for interference? This is most unfortunate.”

There were large-scale protests over the Vishal Bharadwaj movie Haider and the Aamir Khan film PK. Both were criticised for having anti-national content. While Haider showed the Indian Army in a poor light, PK makes fun of idols of Hindu gods and goddesses. It is, however, learnt that the censor board had deleted some portions in PK, where Jesus Christ was depicted after a delegation of distressed bishops met Samson. Sources privy to the content of En Dino and also MSG confirmed that the latter has no objectionable content.

RESIGNATION DRAMA

■ THE QUITTING QUESTION: The resignations have no validity since their tenures had expired and they were on extension.

■ THE CONTROVERSY: Samson and her team quit over the fact that the censor board banned MSG for inciting communalism, but was cleared by FCAT. But FCAT says there is nothing communal in the film and the board under Samson has cleared more inflammatory films.

■ RAMPANT CORRUPTION: The censor board has witnessed bribery and corruption to certify films and CEO Rakesh Kumar appointed by Samson’s team was arrested in a bribery case by the CBI.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

■ ON INTERFERENCE: The government supported the censor board’s decision to clear two recent controversial films

■ ON COERCION: Samson should have tackled corruption head on and informed the government on coercion which she didn’t.