Farmers stop screening of Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘Sooryavanshi’ in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur

PTI, Nov 6, 2021, 7:32 PM IST

Image for representation

Hoshiarpur: A group of farmers protesting the central farm laws on Saturday forced five cinema halls here to stop screening Akshay Kumar-starrer ”Sooryavanshi”.

Some of them tore posters of the movie put up outside the theatres, saying they were opposing actor Akshay Kumar for not supporting their protest.

Activists of the Bharti Kisan Union (Kadian), led by the outfit’s district president Swaran Dhugga, staged a demonstration and a protest march from the local Shaheed Udham Singh Park to Swaran cinema against the screening of the movie.

They forced the cinema hall authorities to stop screening the movie, and condemned the actor for not speaking up in support of their protest The protesters added that they would not allow screening of his movies until the farm laws are repealed.

Hundreds of farmers are encamped at Delhi borders since November last year demanding that the government repeal the three agri laws — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

They claim that these laws will leave them at the mercy of corporates. They are also demanding a new law to guarantee the minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

The Centre, which has held 11 rounds of talks with farmers to break the deadlock, has maintained that the new laws are pro-farmer.