‘MSG-2’ not screened, dera followers choke Malwa

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 19

Commuters in different parts of Malwa region today faced harassment due to rail and road blockades by followers of Dera Sacha Sauda in protest against non-screening of dera head’s movie “MSG-2”.

Aditya, dera spokesperson, said: “We are protesting against multiplex and theatre owners who have not screened the film. All our protests were peaceful.”

Several trains, including Bathinda-Delhi Shatabdi, Moga-Delhi Shatabdi and Ferozepur-Chandigarh, were affected.

Trains running on the Ferozepur-Ludhiana section were cancelled around noon. Traffic was blocked on the Malout-Bathinda national highway at Gidderbaha since early morning hours till late in the afternoon.

BK Bawa, IGP, said: “We did not give any instructions to stop screening of the film.” Even the Mansa Deputy Commissioner had withdrew order banning its screening after it told High Court that the order had been passed by mistake.

In Bathinda, dera followers from Sirsa blocked the railway line near Multania flyover. They raised slogans against the Punjab government and demanded immediate screening of the movie.

Gidderbaha MLA and Indian Youth Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring too supported the protesters. He said: “The government should rather focus on social issues such as female foeticide, drugs, and issues concerning farmers.”

Narinderpal Singh Sidhu, SP (Headquarters), Muktsar, said: “The administration has not imposed any ban on the screening of the film.”

Dera’s Abohar chief Gurcharan Singh said: “The district authorities had initially expressed inability in providing security cover to cinema halls, but they have now made it clear that the movie will not be screened.” The Fazilka unit of the dera presented a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner demanding lifting of “undeclared” ban on the film.

The dera has alleged interference of the police in non-screening of the film. It alleged that a communication, by a multiplex chain to film distributor and the dera, read “We have received instructions from the office of the commissioner of police for non-screening of MSG… Strict instructions have been given to all cinema operators of the region not to play the movie.”

In Moga, Dera followers staged a protest at Kot-ise-Khan town by blocking the highway at several places. Many buses were stopped from plying on these routes while private vehicles also faced hardships. Long traffic jams were witnessed on the highways. Normal life was disrupted in the town. However, no untoward incident was reported.

(Inputs from Gurdeep Mann, Kulwinder Sandhu, Archit Watts, Bharat Khanna, Praful Nagpal, Raj Sadosh and Anirudh Gupta)