‘Padmaavat’ row: Karni Sena blocks traffic in Gurgaon

Look like the trouble for ‘Padmaavat’ doesn’t seem to end. On Sunday hundreds of members of Karni Sena held up the traffic on Sohna and MG road, the residents were caught up in the traffic which went on for half-an-hour. The Karni Sena were shouting slogans, seeking a ban on the screening of the film in Gurgaon movie theatres. It became worse when the fringe group members massed on the roads.


The residents from that area had return back mid-way as the group had blocked the way near the malls and other city hot spots, the residents had stepped out of their houses for a weekend outing. The group were shouting slogans on bikes, there was a group of youths. The protest went on till 3 pm, the protesters were armed with sticks, they blocked the road and held up the traffic. They also threatened everyone to return with more numbers of protesters on January 25th.


A member of Karni Sena, Jitendra Singh Chauhan, who introduced himself as the national executive member of the group had even warned the owners and operators of movie theatres and multiplexes on MG road and Sohna road against screening the movie. He also threatened by saying the things will get worse if their demands are not met, as they say, that they had a silent protest on Sunday.


However, Arun Chauhan, a representative of Shri Rajput Karni Sena a group led by Lokendra Kalvi in Gurgaon, said that they will hold a press conference today. He said the members handed pamphlets to multiplex owners warning them against screening the movie.


A resident of Uppal Southend said, “We had bought tickets for a movie, but missed the show. Although the mall is barely a kilometer away from our gate, we got stuck on the road because of the protest. My children were scared after sighting youths on bikes holding lathis.”


Another resident said, “I was on my way to a mall with my two children when I saw the protesters. They were shouting slogans and warned of bigger protests if the movie is screened at the theatres.”


The residents are scared due to this incident and said that they have to think twice to catch the movie on January 25th, as the fringe group has threatened all the mall management with dire consequences if they allow the screening of the film in their particular multiplexes. But the police said that no damage to property was reported during the protest. There were adequate police deployments in locations where the protesters tried to create a ruckus. Haryana director general of police BS Sandhu “The Supreme Court has cleared the release of the movie. We won’t tolerate any attempt to stall the screening of the movie in the state.”