BJP leader defends ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’

New Delhi, Jan 13 (PTI) BJP national secretary R P Singh defended the film, "The Accidental Prime Minister", on Sunday, claiming that former prime minister Manmohan Singh never took a stand for Sikhs

New Delhi, Jan 13 (PTI) BJP national secretary R P Singh defended the film, “The Accidental Prime Minister”, on Sunday, claiming that former prime minister Manmohan Singh never took a stand for Sikhs and kept “silent” when the Congress scuttled the process of justice for the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, after a Sikh body asked the community to boycott the movie for its “facetious” portrayal of Singh.

The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee had objected to Singh’s facetious portrayal in the film Saturday with its general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa saying the former prime minister had made the Sikh community and India proud during his 10-year tenure on the top post and the movie “spoils” his image.

“For those who say the Accidental PM demeans Manmohan Singh ji as a Sikh, should tell when did he ever take a stand for Sikhs. As a PM he stayed silent when the Congress scuttled the process of justice for @SikhGenocide84. He was also silent when MP tickets were given to Sajjan & Tytler,” R P Singh wrote on Twitter.

He also sought to know which tenets of Sikhism allowed overlooking corruption “under your nose while your bosses loot public money”.

The film, based on a book of the same name written by Sanjaya Baru, has been dubbed by the Congress as a part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) propaganda against the opposition party, while various leaders of the saffron party have promoted it on Twitter.

Baru was Manmohan Singh’s media adviser when the latter was the prime minister.

The film hit the screens on January 11.

This is published unedited from the PTI feed.