The Mumbai unit of the Congress party has called for a ban on the song Bharat Mata Ki Jai featured in a forthcoming Bollywood movie Shanghai, saying it hurts patriotic sentiments and degrades India. In a letter addressed to union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Ambika Soni, Mumbai Congress vice-president Charan Singh Sapra has contended that the content of the entire song is an insult to all countrymen who respect India as their motherland.

Hence it is very likely to inflame the feelings of all Indians, resulting in disharmony, rioting, breach of peace and tranquility within the country, Sapra said. The song contains controversial words like Sarkari Hathiyaar, Dhandha, Chanda, Dengue, Malaria, Gobar (cowdung), which Sapra alleged are deliberately used to defame the country.

Such defaming language has been used despite the full knowledge that the same shall definitely wound the patriotic feelings and sentiments of the people, besides ridiculing and degrading India in the eyes of the world, he urged.

Sapra has sought an immediate and total ban on the song from being broadcast/telecast in any manner, deleting it from the movie and to fix accountability and initiate action against the concerned censor board officials who cleared the offensive number. Based on the novel by Vassilis Vassilikos, Shanghai is a political thriller directed by D. Banerjee and stars Emraan Hashmi and Abhay Deol and is slated for release this Friday (June 8).