KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday lashed out at the makers of the Bollywood film Kesari Chapter 2 for allegedly misrepresenting Bengali revolutionary Khudiram Bose as “Khudiram Singh”. The criticism came as she paid tributes to the freedom fighter on his death anniversary.
In a social media post, Mamata Banerjee called the misrepresentation an “attack on the Bengali language” and an insult to those who laid down their lives for India’s freedom.
"My respectful obeisance on the death anniversary of revolutionary Khudiram Bose. Let me write something. Recently, in a Hindi film, revolutionary Khudiram was called 'Singh'. Why are those who gave their lives for freedom being insulted? Will language terrorists even hold onto the immortal revolutionary Khudiram?" Banerjee asked.
Recently, a controversy erupted after Khudiram Bose was referred to as Khudiram Singh in the Akshay Kumar-starrer Kesari Chapter 2. In June, an FIR was registered against the producers of the film at Bidhannagar South police station for allegedly misrepresenting historical personalities from West Bengal.
The complaint had accused the film of inaccurately portraying Khudiram Bose as "Khudiram Singh" and describing Barindra Kumar Ghosh as "Birendra Kumar" from Amritsar.
One of the country's youngest freedom fighters, Khudiram Bose, was hanged on August 11, 1908, at the age of 18 for his role in the Muzaffarpur bomb case.
Banerjee, in her social media post, further claimed that the son of Bengal was shown as a son of Punjab.
"Our indomitable teenager from Midnapore has been shown as a son of Punjab. Unbearable! But we have always paid tribute to this man, a symbol of patriotism and supreme sacrifice, " she said.