On Sunday, a group of men sat cross-legged on mattresses under a makeshift party tent near Kharki Daula Square, on the road to Delhi. Shishas and water bottles were handed out on a sunny but pleasant day, with a slight sip in the air.
In the foreground stood a man holding a microphone.
“Only the Constitution is supreme in our country, not Farhan Akhtar or the Censor Board,” Abhiram Yadav, leader of the Mahendragarh Yadav Sabha, said to loud applause from the audience. “If the government wants, it can prevent the film from being shown.”
The crowd responded in unanimous voice as the next speaker shouted: “Farhan Akhtar Murdabad (Down with Farhan Akhtar)!”
The men belonged to the Ahir sect, and the film they were referring to was 120 Bahadur. The historical war drama starring Farhan Akhtar is based on the Battle of Rezang-La during the Indo-China War of 1962.
Uniting under the banner of the Sanyukt Ahir Morcha regiment, the group participated in the panchayat, and doubled as a dharna, to renew their demand to change the film’s name.
They asserted that the film, whose trailer was released on November 6 and is scheduled to release on November 21, does not give adequate credit to the “balidan (sacrifice)” of nearly 120 soldiers of the 13th Kumaon Regiment who defended the strategic Razang La mountain pass in Ladakh against the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
“Until our demands are met, I urge our community to protest against the use of ‘Boycott 120 (Bahadur)’ posters. If the film continues to be released, the administration will take responsibility… We will not allow it to be shown in theatres… We must remain united against a money-making project that the general public should not even watch in its current form. Each member of the Ahir family has killed at least 20 to 50 soldiers,” said Arun Yadav, one of the founders of the Morcha.
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He said: “It is unfortunate that no one from the Federal Ministry of Information had enough time to meet us.”
“We will file FIRs in Kharki Daula and other districts against Farhan Akhtar because they said the film is based on real historical events – but they are not showing it. Satya ghatna ke nahi dikar, kuch login aur ek jaati ko famous karne ka anyay kyun kar rahi hain? (Why are they not showing the real facts and, instead, committing injustice by promoting a few people and one community?” Arun claimed.
He added that the organization will meet with all representatives of the region in which their community is located, with a representation that lists their demands: among them is summoning the descendants of soldiers from the 1962 war to screen the film after obtaining no-objection certificates from them.
Major (retd) Dr TC Rao said they were hopeful that the Supreme Court or Supreme Court would register their petition in this regard by Tuesday. “Even the dialogues they have added now in the trailer are because of the pressure exerted by each one of us (Ahirs),” he added.
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Abhiram stressed that the community should condemn and boycott the film unless it adequately reflects their suffering. “We will not allow her to be released… even if sacrifices are needed.”
This is not the first protest of its kind by the community. On October 27, hundreds protested in Gurgaon. The protesters covered a distance of about 17 km – from Kharki Daula Square to the Delhi-Haryana border at Sirhaul – in three hours.
There was a large police presence, with pickup trucks and fire engines, and some individuals wearing riot vests and batons, on Sunday.
(tags for translation)Ahir Community Protest
