Militants attack cinema halls in Gujarat's business capital Ahmedabad for showing Aamir Khan starrer "PK"

By Satyakam Mehta
Despite recent outcry against “militant” Hindu groups becoming increasingly aggressive after the BJP-led coming to power, and sharp criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to act from international media, there is virtually no let down in aggressive stance of Sangh Parivar factions. In a new development, a group of activists said to belong to the Bajrang Dal violently attacked two cinema halls in heart of Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s business capital, to “protest” against Aamir Khan starrer “PK”.
The film, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, has been acclaimed by critics as a powerful satire on godmen and superstition, and, among others, it has won acclaim from BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani.
The move, significantly, comes within days of the Sangh Parivar’s religious reconversion move in South Gujarat’s tribal areas. Eye-witnesses said, the Sangh activists, even as vandalizing two cinema halls, shoted slogans demanding a ban on the film. The cinema halls, City Gold and Shiv, are situated in the posh Ashram Road – running parallel to Modi’s pet urban project Sabarmati riverfront, and situated not very far away from the high-profile offices Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Reserve Bank of India and the Times of India.
According to sources, around two dozen Bajrang Dal men, said to be led by its city unit chief Jwalit Mehta, attacked the two halls. The incident took place in the morning, with militants smashing ticket windows and tearing up posters of the film. Policemen from the nearly Navrangpura police station, as also deputy police commissioner Virendrasinh Yadav, reached the spot late, with the miscreants fleeing the area. The incident took place at around 11 am.

Meanwhile, Yadav has been quoted as telling the media that they were collecting CCTV footages to “identify” the attackers. The Bajrang Dal, on the other hand, has owned up the attack the cinema halls and warned that similar attacks would happen in other parts of Gujarat in case the film was screened. Mehta told mediapersons, “We are warning all other cinema halls to stop showing this movie, otherwise we will be forced to intensify our agitation.”
Mehta particularly chose to single out Aamir Khan, saying he is a Muslim. Declaring that Khan has hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus by making fun of Hindu gods and devotees, he asked, "If his intention was right, why was there effort to make fun of the religion to which Khan belongs?” He claimed that the decision to attack the two cinema halls was taken after he phoned up cinema hall owners, asking them to stop the screening of “PK”. They were “reluctant”, hence the attack happened.
Already there is some outrage in Ahmedabad against the Bajrang Dal attack, especially among the younger generation groups. “Those who have attacked the film do not appear to have watched the film. They could at least read its reviews which appeared in different papers”, said one of those who has seen the film.