Sangh members meet Advani for ban on <I>Water</I>

Sangh members meet Advani for ban on Water
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 21: Representatives of several Sangh Parivar and other outfits today met Home Minister L K Advani and demanded withdrawal of the Central government's approval to Deepa Mehta's controversial movie Water, ban on its filming in India and a debate on the issue in the coming Parliament session.

The leaders of Kashi Sanskriti Raksha Sangharsh Samiti (KSRSS), which spearheaded the agitation against the film in Varanasi, Sanskar Bharati, the cultural wing of RSS, and Kashi Vidwat Parishad also criticised the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for its "carelessness in clearing the script without studying it properly."

"During the 45-minute meeting, after seeing the script, Advani agreed that the film was an onslaught on Indian culture and that the government would do whatever was within its limits," KSRSS spokesman Dr K K Mishra told reporters.

Mishra and religious scholars from Varanasi are here to canvass support for their cause and intend to meet Information and BroadcastingMinister Arun Jaitley, CPI leader Indrajit Gupta, Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and some MPs.

"We want Parliament and the nation to debate the issue at length. It is an ideological struggle. The film is a Christian conspiracy to denigrate Hinduism and they have deliberately chosen Varanasi, the holiest place of Hindus, for this attack," Mishra alleged.

"We will not allow the shooting in this country so long as Kashi and Ganga remain the film's theme," Sanskar Bharati president Dr S N Shrivastava said.