BJPs Khanna plays Naxal in new film: govt must listen to exploited

His party may consider the Naxal problem a national security threat that needs to be fought resolutely but former BJP MP and actor Vinod Khanna....

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His party may consider the Naxal problem a national security threat that needs to be fought resolutely but former BJP MP and actor Vinod Khanna,who plays a Naxal leader in a forthcoming film,feels the Left-wing extremists have been alienated,deprived and exploited and successive governments have not done enough to address their problems.

There is a film I did at the beginning of my career called Mera Gaon Mera Desh. It is about the exploitation of villagers,their land being usurped and the dacoit menace making matters worse for them. The Naxal issue is somewhat similar, Khanna told The Indian

Express.

They need to be brought into the mainstream. Either they pick up the guns themselves or their voices be heard by the government and amends be made. There are problems about forest land,

the tribals,their land being usurped the Naxal problem takes root in many issues.

Khanna plays the role of a Naxal leader it bears similarities to alleged Naxal spearhead Kobad Ghandy in Red Alert The War Within,directed by Anant Mahadevan. Seated in his 13th floor Malabar Hill apartment,Khanna feels that the Naxalites have been driven to violence because of long-term exploitation,followed by neglect.

The former MP from Gurdaspur in Punjab says governments have not done enough to tackle the Naxal problem. Otherwise this problem would not have escalated to the extent it has today.

Asked whether he is referring to the government in power or governments that managed the country in the past,he smiles and replies: Theres only one party that has ruled the country for 50 years. So the question of governments doesnt arise. They have obviously neglected the poor,the downtrodden. The issues of farm land,forest land and tribals continue. Look at the North East. What happened there? Today there are hundreds of movements all over the country. At least by raising their voices they have been able to draw attention to their demands.

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Though sensitive to the Naxal cause,Khanna is defensive when he is asked if Naxal violence is justified. While the people have been driven to violence because they were exploited,Naxal leaders too have exploited them. They have put fear into their hearts,not allowing them to live a normal life. There is also a theory that the leaders dont allow government help to reach them.

Red Alert The War Within is due to release on July 9 and Khanna attributes the sensitivity towards the subject to his character in the film. I play a leader who recruits for the movement,trains and tells them that their fight is just. My character was written before people knew about Kobad Ghandys existence but now the audience can identify with it, he said.

My character,like Ghandy,has no record and no photograph with the authorities. But eventually,his ideology undergoes a change when he meets the protagonist of the film,an uneducated man played by Sunil Shetty,who questions whether their means to achieve their goal is right.