Chandigarh, July 8 (IANS) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) said on Wednesday that it would screen Diljit Dosanj’s film “Satluj” across Punjab.

“This is aimed at ensuring that today’s youth and our coming generations know about the unspeakable tragedy and repression unleashed by the then Congress governments against Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra and thousands of other innocent Sikh youth who were eliminated through fake encounters,” Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal said in a statement.

“This film (‘Satluj’) presents the agony of Punjab during that phase. The Sikh youth was going through profound religious stress following the horrendous and unforgivable attack on Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib and Sri Akal Takht Sahib.”

Later in October-November that year, countless innocent Sikhs were subjected to an unprecedented massacre in New Delhi and several other parts of the country.

“Now, the Punjabis, especially the Sikhs are being stopped from recalling and recording that era in the form of history,” the Akali Dal said.

“Accordingly, I direct every worker, every office-bearer and every leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal to stream this film (‘Satluj’) in every nook and corner of every village, town and city of Punjab,” Badal added.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu said that allegations by certain politicians regarding the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or the Central government’s role in the removal of “Satluj” film from the OTT platform “are baseless, misleading and devoid of facts”.

He added that it is important to place the issue in its proper context.

“The events depicted in the film took place during a period when both the government of Punjab and the government of India were led by the Congress. Therefore, any attempt to attribute developments surrounding the film or its portrayal of that period to the BJP is “politically motivated” and “factually untenable”,” Bittu said in Jalandhar.

He added that the government certification and regulatory provisions relating to films primarily apply to theatrical releases, while satellite television and cable broadcasts are governed under separate statutory and regulatory frameworks.

He said that attributing the removal of “Satluj” from ZEE5 to the BJP or the Central government has no factual or legal basis.

–IANS

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