With Brahmastra coming out soon, Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor were in Ujjain on Tuesday to visit the Mahakaleshwar temple. On Tuesday night, the two actors were stopped from entering the temple by Bajrang Dal activists for the actor’s alleged remarks about beef eating. Confirming the incident, a Mahakal police station official said they resorted to cane-charge to disperse the protesters
The protest came after an old interview of Ranbir Kapoor came to light where he said that he is a beef lover. In 2011, when he was promoting his movie Rockstar, he said, My family is from Peshawar, so a lot of Peshawari food came with them. I am mutton, paya, and beef fan. Yeah, I am a big beef fan.”
Eyewitnesses said despite the cane charge, the protesters did not allow Ranbir and Alia to enter the temple premises.
In a viral video, a Bajrang Dal activist said they were protesting peacefully showing only black flags to Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt who were scheduled to visit the temple, but police started cane-charging them. “We are protesting against Ranbir Kapoor and won’t let him enter the Mahakal temple. He made derogatory statements against our gaumata. He had said eating beef is good,” he said.
According to a PTI report, workers from Bajrang Dal waved slogans ‘Jai Shriram’ when Ranbir and Alia arrived to take the darshan. Ankit Choube, leader of Bajrang Dal, said that even Alia Bhatt stated that those who want to watch his film ‘Brahmastra’ should watch while those who are not enthusiastic should not.
Police said they have taken action under section 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging his duty) of the Indian Penal Code against a right-wing activist.
Talking about the incident, Police Officer OP Mishra said, “Due to a VIP movement at the temple, we were taking security calls and the protesters were asked to stay behind the barricading, a member from Bajrang Dal came and started breaching the security due to which we had to take the following security calls .”
Amid the protest, only the director Ayan Mukherjee took darshan of the deity, temple priest Ashish Pujari said.