Prasar Bharti chief demands law to punish 'anti-nationals'

Prasar Bharati chief A Surya Prakash on Monday demanded that a new law to punish anti-nationals should be made in the country 'to deal with those who question the country's integrity and sovereignty'. Speaking at a programme organised by the public administration department of Lucknow University, Surya Prakash said events like the 'Afzal Guru protest' at JNU in February were a direct assault on the Constitution. "The 42nd report of the Law Commission has strongly recommended penal action against individuals who question the nation's territorial integrity, its judicial system and its Parliament. And these are the very offences committed by those who raised slogans and prepared posters at JNU," he said. Surya Prakash also took a dig at the group of poets, writers and intellectuals who had returned their awards after the Dadri lynching, claiming that many of them had accepted Padmas soon after the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 and the Emergency.

Recent entrant in the list of Padma Shri awardees, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar also spoke on the issue of a "fake intolerance wave" being created in the country. He said that while he believed in freedom of expression for all, he was against selective treatment towards issues. "Why be selective towards the government of Modiji? All such riots and killings have happened in earlier times too so all of this 'award wapsi' and intolerance issue appeared farce to me. Once the Bihar elections were over, everything died down," he said, adding "and we did counter the scenario by taking out the march vying for India's tolerant nature," he added. Talking on the issue of expression in cinema, Bhandarkar said that while he has had a regular professional tiff with the Censor Board for his films, he supported the body's existence. "There are certain people in the fraternity who want to do away with it, but if that happens, there will no control over what the fringe and senseless elements start showing in films," he said.