Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party saying that it is not concerned about devotion and only cares about business. He highlighted that BJP Chief Ministers and leaders have been thanked in 'Adipurush', the latest film adaptation of the epic Ramayana, and they have remained silent over the public criticism for the poor quality of its dialogues and creative liberties taken to present the story. He went on to allege that "attempts are being made to spoil the images of Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman that people have in their minds."
The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister was asked whether the Ram Temple construction in Ayodhya, the abrogation of Article 370, and now talks of bringing Uniform Civil Code (UCC) would impact the upcoming elections.
Speaking to news agency ANI, CM Bhupesh Baghel said: "As far as Ram Mandir is concerned, it is being constructed as per the Supreme Court. From what you can see so far, they (BJP) have nothing to do with Lord Ram or Lord Hanuman. They are concerned only about their business."
"Had this been about devotion, BJP CMs have been thanked for 'Adipurush' and they have not made any statement so far (about controversies surrounding the film). It means that this film has been projected by them and attempts are being made to spoil the images of Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman that people have in their minds," he remarked.
Regarding Article 370, CM Baghel said it was a long-term process, but the Modi government did not take people and political parties into confidence when it carved out two union territories out of the erstwhile Jammu-Kashmir state. "This was injustice and betrayal for the people of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh," the senior Congress leader opined.
This comes as the controversy-ridden film, which registered a bumper opening at the box office only to witness a major drop in collections as negative word of mouth spread, is now screening in theatres with altered dialogues.
Notably, The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to urgently hear a public interest litigation by Hindu Sena's national president to “stay the streaming” of the film 'Adipurush'. A vacation bench of Justices Tara Vitasta Ganju and Amit Mahajan declined petitioner Vishnu Gupta's request to list the matter for hearing either “today or tomorrow or the day after”.
The court observed that the movie has already been released and the date of release was also known well in advance and no case was made out for an urgent hearing, news agency PTI reported.
The petition urged for directions to cancel the film's certification and immediately ban it. The matter is listed for June 30 for a hearing.
Directed by Om Raut and produced by T-Series, the big-budget multilingual 'Adipurush' has been panned on social media over its poor VFX and colloquial dialogues, with dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla under fire for Lord Hanuman's lines in the 'Lanka Dahan' sequence, among others.
In the now infamous scene, the character of Hanuman had lines like: "Kapada tere baap ka toh jalegi bhi tere baap ki". It is now changed to, "Kapda teri Lanka ka… toh jalegi bhi teri Lanka".