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Hindu Nationalists Spur Deletion of TV Drama Scenes

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - An outcry by Hindu nationalists and criminal complaints for
   allegedly hurting Hindus' religious sentiment has prompted the director
   of a new Amazon television political drama to delete scenes that
   allegedly mocked Hindi deities and a dialogue with derisive references
   to lower castes.

   The show, Tandav, released last month here, was widely expected to win
   many viewers as it boasted of some of the biggest names in Bollywood.
   But political analysts say the backlash against the TV series has again
   put the spotlight on a rising tide of Hindu nationalism in India.

   "This signals a new political culture supportive of intolerance, of a
   hardline Hindu ideology which is endorsed by the ruling party," said
   Niranjan Sahoo at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi,
   pointing out that members of the ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata
   Party and Hindu groups were among those who filed police complaints,
   voiced strident objections and called for the show to be banned.

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