Chandigarh: The Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s media advisor Harcharan Bains, said here this evening that the state government “wholeheartedly welcomes any effort that adds to its own efforts towards fighting the drug problems and spreading awareness against it. This includes any feature or documentary film or television programmes or other media efforts.”
Referring specifically to the controversy around the release of the film Udta Punjab, Harcharan Bains in a said in a written statement that the Punjab government “has always maintained that it had nothing to do with the controversy nor had it ever commented in any way on or against the movie. The Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal have repeatedly and formally stated that they had not even seen the movie and there was no question of their commenting on it without actually seeing it. That stand remains unchanged.
Harcharan Bains however said that he hoped the film would “not demonize the youth of the state and that its intent and flow would be in the direction of our own ongoing war on drugs. Anything, including this movie that lends strength to our efforts is welcome.” He said that the Punjab government and the parties that comprise it are “strongly committed to the freedom of speech and of artistic representation of reality or even perceived reality.”
The statement from Harcharan Bains came on behalf of Punjab Government after the Supreme Court of India cleared the released of movie Udta Punjab, that is said to be based on drugs problem in Punjab.