BJP's Amit Malviya issues clarion call for 'champions of free speech' after Congress demands special screening of The Accidental Prime Minister

A day after the Maharashtra State Youth Congress wrote a letter to the producers of the Bollywood film 'The Accidental Prime Minister' objecting to the trailer and demanding a special screening of the film, BJP's National IT chief Amit Malviya on Friday has lashed out at the Congress party for wanting to censor the film.

Taking to Twitter, Amit Malviya attacked the Congress for opposing the movie, questioning the party as to why it wants to censor the film when the book on which the movie is based on was published back in April 2014. 

Earlier, on Thursday, the President of the Maharashtra State Youth Congress wrote a letter to Sunil Bohra and Dhaval Gada, the producers of The Accidental Prime Minister saying that ‘facts have been played with’ and ‘presented in an incorrect manner’ in the trailer of the film in order to 'malign' the image of Congress party and its leaders former PM Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. 

Demanding a special screening of the film before its release, the Youth Congress leader also added that scenes maligning party's image would be deleted and edited.

READ: "'The Accidental Prime Minister' Maligns Congress, Dr Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi": Party’s Youth Wing Demands Screening

Amid the controversy, BJP shared the trailer of the film on its official Twitter handle with the caption, "Riveting tale of how a family held the country to ransom for 10 long years. Was Dr Singh just a regent who was holding on to the PM’s chair till the time heir was ready?" 

Reacting to BJP party's remarks on the trailer, Congress MLA Randeep Singh Surjewala also posted a tweet on Thursday denouncing the 'fake propaganda by BJP' against the party in the said film. In his tweet, he went on to impose questions on the Modi government on certain socio-economic-political issues including rural distress, unemployment, demonetisation, GST, flawed economics and corruption.

READ: BJP Hails 'riveting' Accidental Prime Minister Trailer, Congress Incandescent With Rage

'The Accidental Prime Minister' traces the making and the unmaking of the former PM Dr Manmohan Singh. It is based on a book of the same name by Sanjaya Baru, a former media advisor to Dr Manmohan Singh. The film stars Bollywood actor Anupam Kher as the former Prime Minister, Suzanne Bernert as UPA chief Sonia Gandhi, Ahana Kumra as Priyanka Gandhi and Arjun Mathur as Rahul Gandhi. 

The movie is helmed by debutant director Vijay Ratnakar Gutte and is scheduled to release in March 2019.