Sainiks spew venom against Dilip Kumar for backing Fire

“Samaj aur sanskriti ke dushman, Shabana Azmi aur Dilip Kumar,” they chanted waving placards saying: “Dekho kitna changa hai, Dilip Kumar nanga hai”, “Vyabhichar ka puraskar, Dilip Kumar”, “Desh ka neta kaisa ho, Dilip Kumar jaisa ho,” and “Dilip Kumar aage badho hum tumhare saath hain.” The sharp, if not crude, slogans were meant to send asarcastic message to the thespian, who they have condemned for his public stand on the film. While they have targetted Kumar and Azmi, the activists made no mention of either Deepa Mehta or Mahesh Bhatt.

Khar police, who were informed about the protest, rushed to the thespian’s residence at 1 pm to tackle the irascible Sena activists. Senior Police Inspector Suresh Walishetty said, “We arrested 22 men including Sena MLA Shrikant Sarmalkar and corporator Virendra Jhagde under the Bombay Police Act.” Later, the agitators were released on bail.

Today’s protest follows the thespian’s outcry on the violent attacks on cinema halls screening Fire in Mumbai and Delhi by Sena activists, following which the film was withdrawn from movie halls in several cities.

“The idea was to draw attention towards themselves through exhibition and sarcasm,” said a senior police officer from the North-West region.

Sarmalkar claims they were merely asking Kumar to “assume their leadership” and vowed to show up at everypublic function he attends in their underwear. “We told him that if he wants to support such perversity, he should become our leader. After all, what’s wrong with moving around in the nude either. So, let’s all take our clothes off and go around wearing next to nothing,” he remarks.

He also says there is no need to drag out of the closet things that are “harmful to society”. “Why aren’t these people picking up serious issues? Thanks to this film, even those who didn’t know anything about lesbianism are now being introduced to it.”

Sources close to Dilip Kumar say the actor will soon submit an affidavit to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court over today’s protest against him. “We had written to the Kherwadi police after we recieved several intimidating calls, besides submitting an affidavit in the Supreme Court. Yet there was no effort to provide additional security to any of the petitioners,” the source adds.

However, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-VII) K L Prasad told The IndianExpress that Mahesh Bhatt, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar and Deepa Mehta have now been provided with security and Dilip Kumar’s security has been strengthened.