Thiruvananthapuram: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has booted out the regional censor chief, Dr Prathibha A. An IES offficer, Dr Prathibha's tenure extended till the end of 2019. Dr Pratibha, who stayed put in her office on Monday, has decided to move the court against what she termed was an “arbitrary” decision.

The regional Censor Board’s decision to deny censor certificate for ‘21 Days in Hell’, a 78-minute documentary made by Yadu Vijayakrishnan that eulogises the RSS role in the fight against Emergency, is said to be the reason for Dr Pratibha's ouster. Following the denial of the certificate, state RSS and BJP leaders had regsisted a complaint with the I&B Ministry.





The irony is, Dr Pratibha had the backing of the Centre whenever she took decisions that were branded as “prudish”. She had denied censor certificate for ‘Ka Bodyscapes’ (which explored homosexuality and was allegedly anti-RSS) and had demanded cuts from the makers of ‘Chayam Poosiya Veedu’ and ‘Kathakali’ for nudity. Dr Pratibha, who was made the regional chief during the UPA tenure, managed to hold on to her post even after the regional board was filled with BJP-RSS nominees. However, when she demanded changes in a documentary that made heroes out of RSS, she fell foul of the Centre.

According to sources, it were members affiliated to the Left parties in the regional board who were against ‘21 Days in Hell’. According to Yadu, his film focuses on the RSS and Jan Sangh activists who, unlike the naxalites, used “Gandhian and democratic” means to take on the Emergency. n P7

Yadu conceded that he was not able to feature Socialists or Sarvodaya activists, the other two groups that employed Gandhian means to oppose the Emergency. “The RSS had an organization called Association of Emergency Victims. So it was easy to locate them and feature them,” Yadu said. The film also has BJP veteran K Raman Pillai denouncing CPM’s indifference towards the fight against Emergency.