New Delhi, 13 Jan

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that the Centre's "attempt to block" Vijay-starrer 'Jana Nayagan' is an attack on Tamil culture, and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will never succeed in "suppressing the voice of the Tamil people".

His remarks come a day after the producer of the Tamil film 'Jana Nayagan' approached the Supreme Court, challenging an interim order of the Madras High Court that stayed a single-judge direction to grant the CBFC clearance to the movie.

On 9 January, the Madras High Court stayed a single judge's order directing the CBFC to immediately grant a censor certificate to Jana Nayagan, leaving the fate of actor-turned-politician Vijay's film, which has drawn attention for its political overtones, in limbo.

In a post on X, Gandhi said, "The I&B Ministry's attempt to block 'Jana Nayagan' is an attack on Tamil culture."

"Mr Modi, you will never succeed in suppressing the voice of the Tamil people," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

KVN Productions LLP has filed an appeal against the order passed by a division bench of the high court last Friday, which put on hold the single bench's directive to the board to issue the film's certificate forthwith.

Vijay recently launched his political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). 'Jana Nayagan', which is widely publicised as Vijay's final film before his full-fledged entry into politics, was slated for a Pongal release on 9 January.

However, the film ran into last-minute hurdles after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) did not issue certification in time.

On January 9, the division bench's order came hours after Justice PT Asha directed the CBFC to give clearance to Jana Nayagan, setting aside the film board's directive to refer the matter to a review committee.

The first bench, comprising Chief Justice MM Shrivastava and G Arul Murugan, on an appeal filed by the CBFC, granted an interim stay against the single judge's verdict.

Earlier, allowing the plea of KVN Productions seeking a direction to CBFC to issue a censor certificate, Justice Asha said once the board had decided to grant the certificate, the chairperson had no power to send the matter to the review committee.

The film board immediately preferred an appeal against the order.

Additional Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared through video conferencing, outlined the grounds for the appeal before the division bench.

The 6 January letter of CBFC, which was communicated to the producer of the film, informing him that the matter was referred to the revising committee, was not at all under challenge. But the single judge set aside the letter and gave the above direction.

In its order, the division bench said the petition was filed on January 6, and the CBFC was not granted sufficientopportunity to file its reply.

There shall be a stay, the bench added and ordered notice to the producer of the movie and posted the matter to 21 January.