On Saturday, a group of farmers protesting government farm rules forced five cinema halls in the city to close showing Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi. Some of them tore down movie posters that had been placed outside theatres, claiming that actor Akshay Kumar had refused to endorse their protest.
Activists from the Bharti Kisan Union (Kadian), led by the organization’s district president Swaran Dhugga, conducted a protest march from the local Shaheed Udham Singh Park to the Swaran cinema to protest the film’s screening. They ordered the film’s screening to be halted, and they chastised the actor for failing to speak out in support of their cause. The demonstrators went on to say that they would not allow his films to be screened unless the farm laws were removed.
Hundreds of farmers have been camped at Delhi’s borders since November last year, demanding the government repeal three agricultural laws: the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
They argue that these laws will leave them vulnerable to corporate interests. They are also calling for a new law to ensure that their crops receive the minimum support price (MSP).
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The Centre has maintained that the new regulations are pro-farmer, despite the fact that it has had 11 rounds of negotiations with farmers to resolve the impasse.
