Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal has announced that his party will screen the film “Satluj” across towns and villages of Punjab to educate the younger generation about the atrocities on the Sikh community during the Congress rule. The Diljit Dosanjh starrer has been removed from an OTT platform after its quiet launch – but it has been widely watched since. Earlier today, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee also announced that it would screen “Satluj” amid the ongoing OTT ban.
In a post on X, Badal said the film highlights the “inhuman torture and sacrifice of thousands of innocent Sikh youth and Sikh personalities including Shaheed Bhai Jaswant Singh Ji Khalra had undergone” during the Congress rule.
In the post, Badal said the film “narrates the truth of that painful period which did not stop even after the Congress party’s military attack on Sachkhand Sri Harmandir Sahib and the burning alive of thousands of unarmed innocent Sikh youth, women, elderly people and children in Delhi and other cities”.
“Thousands of Sikh youth who were protesting against this heartbreaking massacre in Punjab were martyred in fake police encounters by the brutal Congress government. Now the nation is being prevented from even telling the history of that painful massacre. The Shiromani Akali Dal will never allow this to happen,” he added.
The Central Board of Film Certification has cited the release of the film without the required cuts and other changes for its ban on the OTT ZEE5. The Centre has now formed a high-level interdepartmental committee to examine the contents of the film. Sources said parts of the movie can be used by anti-India forces.
Originally titled ‘Punjab 95’, the film – depicting the extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances in the 1990s — had been delayed for years over the Censor objections.
The film-maker had said the Censor board had sought 127 cuts. The movie’s name was changed and it was released on the OTT platform after it failed to secure an approval for release in theatres. OTT content does not need any certification.
Following the takedown, pirated copies of the movie have flooded messaging platform WhatsApp and Telegram. In Rajasthan, an entire village had gathered to watch the movie on a big screen.
The pullout of the movie has been staunchly criticised by the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party.
SAD’s Bikram Singh Majithia said the OTT ban has only served to intensify the message that “Satluj” carries.
“By stopping the screening of Satluj, did you really think the truth would disappear? The opposite happened. Today, every young person is searching: What happened in 1990 Bhai Khalra? Which voices were silenced? Why are you afraid to let history be seen? History cannot be banned. The more you try to suppress it, the stronger Diljit’s Satluj will flow. There is no way to defeat the truth,” he said in a post on X.
AAP MP Malwinder Singh Kang said it was beyond shocking. “When a nation begins to fear its own history, censorship becomes its most dangerous weapon,” he said.
