No one has right to insult jauhar: RSS leader

Jauhar was once a Hindu self-immolation practice among women who wanted to escape from the hands of invaders.

Arguing that Rani Padmini/ Padmavati did actually exist, Pandey said that if the filmmakers realised that Padmavati was “our mother”, they would not have portrayed her in “such a light”. He was at a talk organised by a group called Sanskriti on Rani Padmavati in the Context of Indian History and Culture at the Daulat Ram College in Delhi University.

“Jauhar humare liye garv ka vishay ban gaya hai aur aise jauhar ko apmaan karne ka kisi ko adhikar nahin hai,” Pandey said.

Virender S Negi, secretary of the National Democratic Teacher’s Front backed by the BJP, said: “Rani Padmavati sach hai, aur Rani Padmavati ke jauhar par humein garv hai (There was really a Rani Padmavati and we are proud of her jauhar).”

Pandey said people should be proud that she felt “pride” in immolating herself, rather than being touched or even seen by the invaders. “Agar unke (filmmakers) zehen mein hota ki Padmavati humari ma hai, toh woh aisa nahi karte,” he said.

On the matter of not finding her mention in historical texts, he said this could be because Alauddin Khilji destroyed all the libraries in Rajasthan when he invaded. Pandey said, “Koi bhi fimmaker itihaas jankar, itihaas maankar, ya itihaas ke promotion ke liye film nahin banata… Unke jeevan ka ek hi uddeshya hai — paisa kamaana (no filmmaker studies, follows or promotes history to make movies…. They have only one intention — to make money).”

He said that in the movies before 1990, Hindus were shown as villains. “When there is an evil person, he would be a Thakur or Trivedi, who will be the girl’s father troubling the boy. If it’s someone dishonest, he’ll be a businessman, if there is someone who’s a fraud or impostor, he will be Brahmin who wears teeka on his forehead…. And wherever there is a character, it will be some Rahim bhai aur Fahim bhai,” he said.

History professor Kapil Kumar from the Indira Gandhi National Open University said Padmavati found mention in some historical texts like Amir Khusro. “It either has to be history or fiction. If this (the film) is fiction, how can you call it Padmavati?” he said, adding that if Padmavati could be shown dancing, why didn’t filmmakers show Noor Jehan dancing, or why did nobody dare to make a film on Nehru and Lady Mountbatten.