Censor Board resignations: Jaitley rejects allegations of government interference or corruption

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday dismissed allegations of interference and corruption by former censor board members, calling them "rebels without a case" in one of his articles.

"I look after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting along with R.S. Rathore. At no point either of us communicated with any member of the censor board. I haven't met or spoken to any member of censor board nor authorized anyone to do the same. It's the UPA-appointed central censor board which has since continued. If there's any corruption, UPA appointees have themselves to blame. I only wished that the fact of the prevalent corruption had been communicated even once by the chairperson of the censor board to me," said Jaitley.

"The charge that meetings of the censor board aren't being held is self-condemnation; meets are to be convened not by a minister or a secretary, but the chairperson. I have checked up from officials of ministry, who said that funds for the censor board have been returned to the ministry as unspent by the board. The Congress politicized even the Membership of Appeal Tribunal. We restored its dignity by appointing a former judge as its chairperson. The NDA Government maintains an arms length distance in all matters relating to film certification," he added.

He further accused the Congress of politicising the censor board.

"The UPA Government had politicised the Censor Board. In 2004, they dismissed the existing Censor Board headed by an eminent film actor, Anupam Kher, merely on the ground that Anupam Kher was appointed by the earlier government. We did not wish to do that. It is regrettable that the UPA appointees have decided to politicise routine issues.

Earlier on Friday, censor board chief Leela Samson stepped down from her post amid controversy surrounding the clearance of controversial film "Messenger of God" featuring Dera Saccha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and citing interference, coercion and corruption of panel members.

Nine other board members resigned following her resignation.