The All India Cine Workers’ Association has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding a ban on the upcoming Hindi film, Why I Killed Gandhi.
In the letter, the AICWA asks for a ban on the film, which is scheduled to premiere on an OTT platform on January 30, as it “glorifies Nathuram Godse, the traitor and killer of our father of nation, Mahatma Gandhi.”
The letter, a copy which has also been sent to the union minister of Information and Broadcasting, further notes that the actor portraying the role of Godse in the film, Amol Kolhe, is a sitting Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha. It adds that the release of the film will “shock” the whole nation by its portrayal of the “heinous crime” which took place on January 30, 1948.
Godse was the assassin of Gandhi. Following the Partition of India in September 1947, which was opposed by Gandhi, who had envisioned a united India, the Hindu nationalist Godse fired three bullets at Gandhi on January 30, 1948.
A member of the Hindu Mahasabha, and former member of the right-wing extremist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Godse was arrested along with eight accomplices. During the eight-month trial that followed, he accepted the murder charges and made several statements on his motives behind the assassination, which primarily amounted to his belief that Gandhi had sided too much with the Muslims during the Partition. Godse found guilty and sentenced to death in November 1949.
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The release of Why I Killed Gandhi is also being opposed by the Maharashtra wing of the Indian National Congress party. On Sunday, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Nana Patole said that the party will not allow the release of the film in the state.
Patole mentioned that the party will request Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to ban the release of the film. “If you portray Gandhiji’s murderer as a hero, it is not acceptable. Our country is known through Gandhi and his ideology. He is celebrated worldwide. Congress will oppose it,” he added.