SGPC Sends Legal Notice to Kangana Ranaut Over Emergency for Alleged Misrepresentation. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has issued a legal notice to the makers of Kangana Ranaut-starrer upcoming movie, Emergency, for misrepresentation of history and characters of Sikhs.
The SGPC cited that Khalistan was demanded by only radical Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and no other Sikh figure.
The film is directed and co-produced by Ranaut and is based on the former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, and the Emergency she declared in India in the year 1975. The trailer released on August 14 is a buzz riser with the full film set to debut on September 6. Ranaut will take on the persona of Gandhi.
Advocate Amanbir Singh Siali, legal representative of SGPC, has asked the company to remove scenes, which are in the form of trailer, showing anti-Sikh sentiments. The notice stated that the said trailer is being issued, circulated or displayed on various public and social media forums.
The SGPC had taken exception to a line in the film’s trailer, “Tohadi party nu vote chahide ne ate sanu chahida hai Khalistan (Your party needs votes, and we want Khalistan),” as it apparently shows people in Sikh attire firing assault weapons. The rest of the SGPC argument is that there is not a single historical document or record which says Bhindranwale ever made such statements and there are no documented conversations in Sikh history which lend credibility to that portrayal.
Sikh organizations have denounced the film, noting that the film propagates an anti-Sikh narrative connected to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards in 1984, post the Operation Blue Star military action against Bhindranwale and other militants at the Golden Temple—a result of which was widespread anti-Sikh riots that ended in the massacre of thousands of Sikhs.
The SGPC said the film had the potential to hurt the sentiments of Sikhs and mislead people in understanding them. SGPC Secretary Partap Singh said the notice was issued on the directives of SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami. This is because of contained several offensive scenes in the movie trailer that created enormous distress in the Sikh community.