Ex-Bihar minister seeks tax-free status for “Chhapak”

Former Bihar culture minister Shiv Chandra Ram on Friday urged the Nitish Kumar government to make Deepika Padukone-starrer “Chhapaak” tax-free across the state, stressing that the movie has raised a socially relevant issue of acid attack survivors. The RJD leader, who had served in Kumar's cabinet until the JD(U) chief returned to the NDA in July 2017 also lamented the government's “indifference towards culture and sports”, claiming that many initiatives taken by him to promote these did not see the light of the day.

“Deepika Padukone is one of our leading actresses and she deserves a salute for having the guts to play a deglamorised role, based on a real life incident. Acid attacks have been a social menace and the movie sends a very important message. The government must follow the examples of states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and the film should be made tax-free in Bihar,” Ram told reporters here. He disapproved of the clamour for “boycott” of the movie, mainly on social media, following Padukone's recent visit to the JNU campus to express her solidarity with students protesting against the January 5 violence on campus against varsity students and teachers by trespassers, allegedly sympathetic to the RSS-affiliate ABVP.

“Those who are having problems with the movie have their own peculiar mindset. I have nothing to say about them. But even if one acknowledges their right to believe in a particular political ideology, how does a socially relevant movie come in their way? The government must not shy away from making it tax-free and support a good cause,” Ram said. The BJP is an alliance partner of Kumar's JD(U). The Bihar government has granted tax exemptions to a number of movies, the most recent example being Hrithik Roshan-starrer Super 30, which hit the screens last year and was based on the life of legendary Mathematics teacher Anand Kumar.

A few years ago, when Kumar was out of the NDA and had given up the chief minister's chair for a few months, upon his insistence the government headed by Jitan Ram Manjhi had extended a similar incentive to Amir Khan's “PK” – which was being targeted by pro-Hindutva elements. Ram also expressed dismay over the state “lacking a policy on promoting films and sports. I had taken many steps in this direction while I held the portfolio. But this government seems to be totally indifferent”.

Meanwhile, controversial former MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav – who has floated his own outfit Jan Adhikar Party, the students' wing of which shone in the recently held Patna University Students' Union elections – warned “trouble makers” at theatres. “I ask the administration to make fool-proof security arrangements at all cinema halls where 'Chhapaak' is being shown. And if the government is found lacking in reining in mischievous elements, they should remember that our students' wing is out in the open to deal with them,” Yadav – known for his strong-arm style of politics, said.

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