Reverence doesn’t mean you issue threats: Karan Singh on ‘Padmavati’ row

25/11/2017

NEW DELHI, Nov 24: Veteran politician Karan Singh today hit out at the Rajput outfit at the forefront of the raging row over Deepika Padukone-starrer "Padmavati", saying, in the name of reverence, one cannot issue threats or declare a bounty on someone's head.
Singh, 86, suggested the Rajput Karni Sena, to instead engage in a "rational discussion".
"Just nuts, had never heard of this outfit before," was his immediate reaction when asked about the controversy.
"The fact is Padmini is revered and is worshipped by the (Rajput) clan. When I first went to Chittorgarh 60 years ago, my mother asked me to bring the soil of that land in a small box so that she could worship it.
"But reverence doesn't mean you indulge in issuing threats or declaring a bounty on someone's head," he told PTI on the sidelines of an event at the UNESCO office here.
Rajasthan unit chief of Karni Sena Mahipal Singh Makrana recently threatened to chop off the nose of Padukone, the lead actor, if she did not refrain from making "provocative" statements, while referring to the nose chopping incident of 'Surpanakha' in the epic Ramayana.
A Haryana BJP leader offered a Rs 10 crore bounty for beheading the film's director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Padukone.
"Those who are aggrieved by the film, can have a rational discussion on it, debate on it, and if the Censor Board feels there is a certain scene that is undesirable....but one must resort to legal ways to lodge any protest," Singh, a Rajya Sabha member, said.
The controversy surrounds the portrayal of Rajput queen Padmavati and Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji in the film directed by Bhansali.
Earlier scheduled to hit cinema halls on December 1, the release of the film has been postponed by the makers.
Historians are divided on whether Padmini actually existed. She finds mention in the 16th century epic poem "Padmavat" by Sufi poes Malik Muhammad Jayasi.
Earlier, in a response to a question on identity, during a panel discussion at the event held to mark the 50th year Auroville, Singh said the "idea of a single identity is now invalid".
"All of us have multiple identities. I am a Dogra, and I am proud of that. I am a Rajput, I am proud of that. I am a Hindu, I am proud of that. I hail from a Muslim-majority state (Jammu and Kashmir) and I am proud of that. I am from India and I am proud of that, and I am world citizen and I am proud of that as well.
"These different identities should be like concentric circles with an inner spiritual centre. One can keep on adding circles as the centre remains intact. It is only when you don't have a centre that you become conflictual and eccentric," he said.
Auroville, a multicultural, multi-ethnic, and multi- linguistic township, was established in Puducherry in 1968.
UNESCO has passed four resolutions in support of Auroville.
Singh said the fifth resolution was recently passed at the 39th General Conference of the world body.
Various events, including a photo exhibition portraying its journey, are being held to mark its golden jubilee.
A short film marking 70 years of UNESCO in India was also screened at the event.

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