11 July,2017 06:00 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
A woman, named Priya Singh Paul, who claims to be Sanjay Gandhi's biological daughter alleged that the trailer of the movie 'Indu Sarkar' is grossly misleading in its portrayal of the late Congress leader
A woman, named Priya Singh Paul, who claims to be Sanjay Gandhi's biological daughter alleged that the trailer of the movie 'Indu Sarkar' is grossly misleading in its portrayal of the late Congress leader.
Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, the widow of Sanjay Gandhi, or their son, BJP MP Varun Gandhi has no response to this woman's claim. So who exactly is Priya Singh Paul?
A former media professional, Paul said that she was adopted by her foster parents Shiela Singh Paul and Balwant Paul in 1968, the year of her birth.
Priya Singh Paul claimed that she was born in 1968 and adopted in 1974, and that the reason given for her adoption was that since her biological father was in politics, the child was required to stay separately for sometime and also that her mother was underage back then. Paul said she had been adopted as a baby and claimed she was told about Sanjay Gandhi being her biological father after she grew up.
Priya Singh Paul, who has moved the Tis Hazari Court alleging that her adoption papers were 'forged', told a press conference that a 'misrepresentation' in the film prompted her to 'break her silence'.
Paul said she was 'not hankering for media attention' and decided to come out as a wrong impression was being created about her 'father'. One Goswami Sushil-ji Maharaj, who claims to have been a "friend" of Sanjay Gandhi, has filed an affidavit in the court, claiming that he was 'well aware' that Sanjay had a 'girl child', born before his marriage.
Also Read: 'Indu Sarkar' trailer shocking and misleading, says Sanjay Gandhi's 'daughter'
In sudden limelight
Paul said that the trailer she saw was misleading and hence she said she even sent a legal notice to the film's director Madhur Bhandarkar, objecting to the same issue late last month.
"I was shocked to see the trailer of the movie, which is so misleading. In one scene, a man resembling Sanjay Gandhi says 'Ye sarkar chaabuk (whip) se chalti hai', and in the very next scene, a woman is shown being whipped in prison and later raped... which is completely misleading depiction of Sanjay Gandhi who I once met and found a very gentle being, and from accounts I have heard from people who knew him," said Priya Singh Paul.
Paul, who claimed she is aged 48, last month had said she has moved the Central Board of Film Certification(CBFC) against clearing the film.
Sanjay Gandhi, the younger son of Indira Gandhi, died in an air crash in 1980. "The filmmakers have admitted that the film is 30 per cent facts and 70 per cent fiction. But these so-called facts lead to a fiction. This has been cleverly done to influence a reasonable viewer to make an obvious connect," she said.
'Indu Sarkar', which is set against the backdrop of Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975, has courted trouble in the recent weeks with Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam demanding that it be separately screened for him. (Read more)
-with agency inputs