Bisheshwar Mishra /New Delhi
Celebrated actress and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan today hit out at the Centre and State government for taking no action against the alleged attackers of director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his crew on the sets of ‘Padmavati’.
Raising the issue during zero hour, Bachchan said that film industry which provided employment to a large number of people had been 
repeatedly facing such assaults and the government had failed to provide the ‘requisite protection’.
Charging that intolerance was growing in the country and a “select few” assume that they represent the masses, “under certain political patronage” , and take law and order in their hands. They have no respect for constitutional values or the law of the land.
Bachchan said the film fraternity, which strives to bring fictional stories to people through creativity for the sole purpose of entertainment with some moral and social message, has been the “soft target for these anti-social elements”.
“Sometime they are threatened, sometime films are not allowed be screened, sets are vandalised and sometimes it takes a violent turn as it happened in Jaipur recently. “…Sets of Padmavati, where Rajput Karni Sena not only physically assaulted the Director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, but also damaged the expensive film equipments,” she said.
Bhansali, she said, is a renowned director has made great films and added that he had also staged the “same subject of Padmavati” as an opera in a Paris theatre in 2008. Bachchan further said neither the state government, nor the Centre has condemned the incident or taken action against the culprits. “What message are we sending to the film fraternity which is one of the most important and vibrant ambassador of the country. Creativity should not be subjected to such treatment,” she said and demanded strong action against those involved in the incident.
Bachchan said the film fraternity has long been fighting the menace with little or no support from the government. The film industry creates large number of employment opportunities and such disruptions affect the earnings of the sector.
Last month, Bhansali was allegedly roughed up by a group of a particular caste, who also stopped the shooting of the film by damaging the set at Jaigarh Fort, alleging that the director was “distorting facts” in the movie which is about Alauddin Khilji’s obsession with Rani Padmavati.