What happened to Dev Anand, Balraj Sahni, Majrooh Sultanpuri, with which PM Modi surrounded the Congress – PM Modi Targets Congress by Citing Dev Anand Balraj Sahni Majrooh Sultanpuri from Hindi Film Industry Heres What Happened to He
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday talked about crushing the ‘Freedom of Speech’ of the film industry and actors during the Emergency in Parliament. During the proceedings of the fifth day of the budget session, PM Modi was responding to the discussion on thanks. In his speech, during the Congress governments, he spoke on the ‘Freedom of Speech crushing’ in the country. The Prime Minister referred to the incidents when efforts were being made to curb the actors of the film industry during the Congress government. He mentioned the events with artists like Majrooh Sultanpuri, Dev Anand and Balraj Sahni.
This is not the first time Prime Minister Modi has mentioned these incidents. In 2022 too, he mentioned these incidents during the discussion on the issue of constitution and freedom of expression. Let us tell you what events happened to film actors in Parliament …
What did Prime Minister Modi say?
PM Modi accused the Congress of ‘blowing the sentiments of the Constitution’ immediately after independence. He said, ‘Nehru ji was the Prime Minister, the first government and a strike of laborers took place in Mumbai. In it, Majrooh Sultanpuri sung a poem- is a slave of the Commonwealth. In this crime, Nehru ji sent him to jail. Balraj Sahni joined a procession, he was jailed. Lata Mangeshkar’s brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar planned to broadcast a poem on Veer Savarkar on Akashvani, he was dropped from AIR. The country has also seen the emergency emergency. If Devanand did not support the Emergency, then his films were banned.
Why were Majrooh Sultanpuri arrested?
Majrooh Sultanpuri, one of the renowned lyricists of his era, wrote against the British Raj in India and was part of the ‘Progressive Writers Movement’. Artists associated with this movement supported Socialist and Communist ideology and their political views also showed effect in their work.
In the book ‘Majrooh Sultanpuri’, writer Manak Premchand has mentioned the whole incident when Majrooh was arrested. In 1949, during a Mumbai -based labor movement, Majrooh read a poem, a part of which was against Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as he decided to include India in the list of ‘Commonwealth of Nations’.
There were some lines of that poem:
‘Aman’s flag on this earth, who should not be able to wave
This too is a disciple of Hitler, kill a companion, do not know!
Nehru is the slave of the Commonwealth, kill the companion, don’t be able to go! ‘
The state government had issued an arrest warrant against the Majrooh. But Majrooh became underground and could be arrested in 1951 itself. After his arrest, Morarji Desai, who was the Home Minister of Bombay (now Mumbai), asked him to apologize so that he could be released. But Majrooh refused to do so. However, in the book, it was also described as ‘interesting’ that while a Congress government arrested Majrooh for speaking against Nehru, in 1993, a Congress government was the biggest film honor of the country, Dadasaheb Phalke, the country’s biggest film honor. Also awarded the award.
What happened to Balraj Sahni?
In this book, the arrest of Balraj Sahni, who is counted in the Hindi film Legends, is also mentioned. The book states that he was allegedly accused of ‘inciting violence during a demonstration of the Communist Party’ in Balraj’s arrest order.
Balraj Sahni was kept in jail for 6 months. After coming out of jail, he wrote that after coming out, the oldest organization of Indian theater-artists, IPTA (Indian People’s Theater Association), had ‘sacrificed’. He wrote, ‘My life had become a boat without a hull. As if there was not enough so much, I also had to face the threats of the police. He also wanted to make me his detective.
What happened to Dev Anand in Emergency?
Icon Dev Anand of Hindi films wrote in his book ‘Romanceing with Life’ that he had reached Delhi for a government program with Dilip Kumar. Arriving here, he realized that this program has been organized to promote ‘Sanjay Gandhi’s image’, which was then being promoted as ‘leader of the country’. The purpose of calling the film personalities was to praise these things. But Dev Anand refused to do so.
Recalling the whole incident, Dev wrote in his book, ‘Dileep also hesitated to go to the TV center to join a propaganda in favor of Emergency, I strongly and directly opposed it.’ The result was what anyone could expect in that period. Dev further wrote in the book, ‘Not only the screening of all my films on TV was banned, but my name was also forbidden to be taken or mentioned in an official media.’ Dev Anand wrote that when he talked to Minister VC Shukla about this, he was asked to speak in favor of the government.
When the Emergency ended, Dev Anand supported the formation of the Janata Party government. But when this government failed to fulfill its promises, Dev started his own party, national party. However, this party was finished after a few months.
What happened to Lata Mangeshkar’s brother?
Giving a speech in Parliament in 2022, India’s voice Kokila, Lata Mangeshkar’s brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar was asked to be removed from AIR (All India Radio) for a poem.
He had accused the Congress government, saying, ‘Hridaynath Mangeshkar ji had said in an interview that once he met Savarkar and told him about presenting his poem. Savarkar ji said to him- ‘Do you want to go to jail after reading my poem?’ But Hridaynath ji read the poem and within eight days his service in Air was terminated.