Opposition in Maharashtra demands to make film ‘Phule’ tax-free and screen in schools

Opposition in Maharashtra urges tax exemption for film Phule to educate students on social reformers' struggles.

Opposition in Maharashtra has urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to exempt the film Phulefrom tax and make it available in schools. They argued that making the film tax-free would allow more people to know the history of India’s social reforms and movements. 

While NCP-SP leader Jayant Patil asked to make it tax-free, aiming to reach more people with the history of social reforms, Mumbai Congress president and MP Varsha Gaikwad wants school students to understand the struggle of such social reformers that enabled girls to pursue education in India. 

Actor and filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan directed the film Phule, a biopic on the lives of Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule, released on April 25. The film has already attracted criticism from the Brahmin community for allegedly showing the community in a bad light. The director has defended that the film is not against the Brahmins, and the controversy around it was “unnecessary”.

Mr. Patil on Friday asked Mr. Fadnavis to tax-free the film Phule that depicts the struggles of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule for equality and see the living history of the movement built for the upliftment of society. He shared the letter on X, mentioning, “The work of Mahatma Phule and Savitrimai is beyond opening water tanks for Dalits and promoting women’s education. The film has been opposed in the 21st century as much as the couple faced opposition for their work in the 19th century, resulting deletion of nearly 12 scenes from the film.” 

“Everyone must watch the struggle of the couple fighting to give a man the right to live as a human being,” he wrote, adding that people’s misconceptions will also be cleared. 

Mumbai Congress president and MP Varsha Gaikwad demanded that the film be made tax-free in Maharashtra and screened in schools, especially girls’ schools across the State. Crediting the Phule couple for all her achievements, Ms. Gaikwad said, “Many women like me can get themselves educated and work in the political field just because of Phule’s initiatives to educate women and the underprivileged sections of society.” “We have a social responsibility towards them; the current generation should understand their struggle. This is possible through this film,” she wrote in the letter to Mr. Fadnavis. 

Meanwhile, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) Chief Prakash Ambedkar also raised his voice to make the film tax-free. “I demand that the film be released without any cuts and be made tax-free in Maharashtra. VBA follows the Phule-Shahu-Ambedkarwadi ideology, and we will NOT tolerate and stay quiet to this insult of Mahatma Phule,” he posted on X, a few weeks ago.