Jaya Bachchan raises Bhansali attack in RS

Samajwadi Party leader and actor Jaya Bachchan on Tuesday raised in Rajya Sabha the issue of recent attack on filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

She said: "Creativity should not be subjected to such treatment."

There was growing intolerance in the country with the selected few assuming that they represent the masses under certain political patronage, she said.

They have started taking law and order into their own hands, she added.

"They have no respect for the constitutional values or law and order. The film fraternity has long been fighting this menace with little or no support from the government," she said.

"Film industry creates large number of employment opportunity and any such disruption affects earnings, growth and employment generation within the industry, Jaya added.

The Samajwadi Party member also expressed her displeasure over the government not condemning the incident in which Bhansali was physically assaulted and film equipment was damaged.

The National Award-winning Bollywood director was allegedly slapped and assaulted on January 27 by a mob of activists of the Shree Rajput Karni Sena in Jaipur on the sets of "Padmavati".