Mother India to Lagaan, TMC MP Derek O’Brien invokes films to target Govt

“The condition of farmers has deteriorated under the current dispensation,” he said, adding that agricultural wages have grown by just 0.2% over the last five years. “30 farmers die by suicide everyday in the country and there was still no legal guarantee for MSP,” he said.

Talking about the atrocities against women, he cited Aakhri Khat (1966), which had Rajesh Khanna playing the lead. “51 crimes against women are registered every hour, and 85 rape cases are reported every day. And that’s why we want to bring the Aparajita Bill… the Bengal Assembly has unanimously approved it. It’s stuck here,” he said.

He added that 3 out of 10 married women experience spousal violence and there was nothing to protect women from it. “And no story about women today in India can be told without what was done to our champion women wrestlers… ” he said.

Citing the Balraj Sahni-starrer Garam Hawa, Derek O’Brien said, “That was the movie made in 1974. What Mr Modi and his creaky coalition are doing today. You are punished for what you eat, what you wear, who you love.” “Anti-conversion laws you are bringing, it is not against one community, it is anti-constitutional… Waqf it is not a religious issue, it is a constitutional issue…,” he said.

Bringing in Aamir Khan’s Lagaan, he said individuals were paying more tax than corporates.