Karni Sena goes violent in PM’s Gujarat

The violent intentions of the protestors, however, were made public on Friday by the President of the Gujarat wing of the Karni Sena

Picture courtesy: Twitter
Picture courtesy: Twitter
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Vikrant Jha

The ‘Shree Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena’ (SRRKS) protestors turned to violence in their bid to oppose the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed Padmaavat as they burnt three buses and damaged window panels of at least six more in different parts of Mehsana district. Some rampant protestors also burnt tyres to block Highways in different parts of Gujarat.

Gujarat Police are deploying additional forces at “sensitive areas” across the state after protesters damaged buses, DGP Pramod Kumar said in a press conference on Sunday.

Following the violence, the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) cancelled 700 trips, including 400 to the Mehsana region in the north, the Indian Express reported. “Since it was a Sunday, the plans of hundreds of marriage groups were affected, leaving them at the mercy of private operators,” GSRTC secretary K D said.

DGP further added, “We are committed to follow the Supreme Court order that has allowed the release of the film. We are deploying additional police forces at sensitive areas across the state to maintain law and order.”

“We are also deploying additional forces at sensitive places near cinema complexes. If theatre-owners approach police, they will be given security,” Kumar said assuring protection to theatre owners.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Raj Shekhwat, Gujarat chief of the Karni Sena, said, “The protest was supposed to follow a system but it has become violent. The common people are getting disturbed and I am appealing to the members of Karni Sena to not resort to violence and carry out acts like burning buses. This is property belonging to the people.”

“If the movie is released, we will be standing outside theatres, giving flowers to people and requesting them to not see the movie. The theatre association is supporting us and has told us that it will not be screening the movie.”

In the last couple of days, 15 complaints have been received by the police and several people arrested, DGP Kumar informed. He said that six IGPs, a DIG, 14 DySPs, 41 inspectors, 238 sub-inspectors, 11,500 home guard jawans and two companies of RAF have been deployed to maintain law and order.

Last Thursday, the Supreme Court assured the nationwide release of “Padmaavat” on January 25 by lifting the ban on the screening of the film in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

In Gujarat, the protesters also tried to block roads by burning tyres in some parts of Banaskantha, Mehsana, Surendranagar and Bhuj. On Sunday morning, they tried to block roads at Unava village near Gandhinagar and at Ambaji town in Banaskantha, police said.

Sporadic protests continued in Bhavnagar for the third day as protesters tried to block highways by burning tyres. There were also attempts to block the Rajkot-Bhavnagar and Bhavnagar-Dhandhuka state highways.

To control the situation in Bhavnagar, Bhavnagar SP held a meeting with city cinema owners and the Kshatriya community leaders and it was reportedly decided in the meeting, to control the violence, the movie will not be screened in Bhavnagar, irrespective of the orders by the apex court.

The violent intentions of the protestors, however, were made public on Friday by the President of the Gujarat wing of the Karni Sena as he had openly threatened to ‘torch all movie halls’ that ‘dare to screen Padmaavat’. On Friday, Mahipal Singh Makrana, the Karni Sena Chief, had even called for the ‘Kshatriya jawans’ to boycott the mess food for a day to protest the release of the movie.

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