SAMAJ WEEKLY UK
The film is a one-sided and incomplete account of state and communal terrorism
(Barnala, July 12 , 2026)- The Tarksheel Society Punjab has strongly condemned the Modi government’s decision to remove the film Sutlej from the Zee5 OTT platform, describing it as a major attack on freedom of expression and the media as a whole. The organization has appealed to all people-oriented public and democratic organizations to strongly oppose what it calls an undeclared restriction on media freedom.
In a statement issued from Tarksheel Bhavan, Barnala, state committee leaders Master Rajinder Bhadaur, Hem Raj Steno, Rajpal Singh,Joginder Kullewal,Sukhwinder Bagpur,Ram Swarn Lakhewali and Sumeet Amritsar said that although the film presents a biased and incomplete account of state and communal terrorism during the dark period of the 1980s—because it overlooks incidents of Khalistani militancy in which thousands of innocent people and political opponents were allegedly killed on communal grounds—the Modi government’s decision to ban the film is nevertheless completely unconstitutional and reflects an authoritarian mindset.
They further alleged that the Modi government, by imposing a ban on the film on the Zee5 media platform owned by former BJP Rajya Sabha member Subhash Chandra, has engaged in communal politics under a planned conspiracy. According to the statement, the ban was intended to generate widespread publicity for the film so as to highlight the perceived threat of Sikh fundamentalism before the Hindu community in Punjab and against the Congress Party, with the aim of consolidating the Hindu vote bank in favor of the BJP in the 2027 elections.
The leaders also said that the actions of the central security forces and the Punjab Police during the 1980s, when thousands of young people were allegedly killed in fake police encounters under the pretext of eliminating Khalistani terrorism, their bodies declared unclaimed and cremated, and other alleged excesses committed during the period of communal violence, can never be forgotten.
