The Ganajagaran Mancha has threatened to boycott Indian products if Bangladesh’s Liberation War history is not corrected in Bollywood blockbuster ‘Gunday’.
“We Bangladeshis will have a rethink about seeing Indian movie, channels or using products if the matter is not dealt with immediately,” said spokesperson Imran H Sarkar in a rally at Shahbagh on Monday.
‘Bikram’ and ‘Bala’, protagonists of the action crime thriller, are made orphans by what is mentioned as the “1971 Indo-Pakistani War that resulted in the formation of Bangladesh.”
The distortion triggered angry outbursts from Bangladeshis on social media sites which eventually compelled the film’s studio, Yash Raj Films, to apologise for disrespecting and hurting public sentiments on Feb 19.
Imran said, “Pakistan doesn’t like to recognise our war so they have been calling it the India-Pakistan war. Now India is doing it too.”
“Bangladesh’s history is variously distorted not only in Indian movies but in Indian books and newspapers,” said Lucky Akhter, Bangladesh Chhatra Union General Secretary and a central organiser of the Shahbagh-based youth-led popular uprising.
She demanded tough measures from the government.
“Let India know how angry we are because of the movie and take tougher action so that it is corrected,” said Imran, addressing the government.
The Bangladesh government on Sunday strongly protested Gunday’s portrayal of its Liberation War and asked for appropriate measures against the screening of the movie in its current form.
Three demands were made by Ganajagaran Mancha, the first being the removal of erroneous part from the movie.
The Mancha also demanded that all advertisement of the movie be banned until the correction and proper reactions be sent to India about distortion of Liberation War facts in the government or private sectors.
Source: Bd news24