Drama after Tamil film mocks GST

Chennai/New Delhi, October 21 

Actor Vijay-starrer ‘Mersal’, which has apparently mocked the Goods and Services Tax (GST), has pitted the BJP and the Congress against each other in a fierce war of words. 

Faced with severe criticism, the film production firm Sri Thenandal Films on Saturday said it was willing to remove those portions that have “created misunderstanding”.

While several BJP leaders have vociferously demanded the removal of dialogues and scenes “making incorrect inferences”, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and senior party leader P Chidambaram hit out at the ruling party for silencing critics.  

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Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan has demanded removal of dialogues in the flick which he termed as “untruths” about the GST, rolled out by the BJP-led NDA government on July 1. The BJP’s state unit has also made a similar demand, charging the filmmakers with making “incorrect references” about the central taxation.

Hitting out at the references, state BJP president Tamilisai Sounderrajan had yesterday said “Incorrect references have been made in ‘Mersal’ about  GST... celebrities should desist from registering wrong information among people.” 

H Raja, party’s national secretary, in a series of tweets said the reference to GST only exposed Vijay’s “lack of knowledge of economics”. “GST is not a new law,” he added. 

Sounderrajan said, "What do they (the filmmakers) know about GST and its economics... such incorrect references should be removed from the film," she had said.

The Congress jumped to the defence of the filmmakers and criticised the Central Government for attempting to muzzle critics and suppress the freedom of expression. 

“Mr Modi, Cinema is a deep expression of Tamil culture and language. Don’t try to demon-etise Tamil pride by interfering in Mersal,” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet which was retweeted by Chidambaram. — Agencies