A conservative Madhya Pradesh government has sought an apology from Sunny Leone for hurting religious sentiments of Hindus, for her alleged ” obscene dance” on an iconic song. The State Home Minister, Narottam Mishra who is known for his moral policing, has given the actress and the singers, Shaarib and Toshi all of 72 hours to withdraw the musical video’ Madhuban mein naache Radhika’ He warned that if they failed to do so, action would be taken against them. He alleged that the song has hurt the sentiments of the people as Hindus worship Maa Radha.
The album premiered on YouTube on December 22 and attracted more than 98 lakh views on YouTube in four days.
The video has created a stir as Mathura priests objected to Sunny Leone performing obscene dance on this iconic song. The song, ‘ Madhuban mein Radhika naache. was originally sung by Mohammad Rafi for the 1960 film, Kohinoor.
The new version featuring Sunny Leone is a spin of that iconic version retaining only the phrase.
The Minister said, “Some vidharmis ( heretics) are constantly hurting Hindu sentiments. The video ‘Madhuban me Radhika nache’ is one such condemnable attempt. I am warning Sunny Leone ji, Shaarib and Toshi ji to understand. If they don’t remove the song after apologising in three days, then we will take action against them,” he said.
This is not the first objection on the way of Sunny Leone’s new album. Mathura-based priests have already demanded a ban on the video as they found Sunny Leone’s dance on this iconic song objectionable. “We will go to court if the government does not act against the actress and ban her video album,” said Sant Naval Giri Maharaj of Vrindavan to put pressure on the government.
Akhil Bhartiya Tirth Purohit Mahasabha’s national president Mahesh Pathak said Sunny Leone through the video has maligned the prestige of Brijbhumi by presenting the song in a “derogatory manner”.
Moral policing is not new for the Madhya Pradesh Home Minister. In October, he had issued a 24-hour ultimatum to designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee to withdraw his mangalsutra advertisement for its “objectionable and obscene” portrayal. Sabyasachi later withdrew the advertisement.
A Karva Chauth advertisement featuring a same-sex couple was also withdrawn after Narottam Mishra’s warning this year.
