‘Pragaash’ being banned due to politics of vote: BJP

Expressing varied stands on issues of right to expression, BJP said Kashmir`s all-girl band Pragaash is being banned due to a politics of vote.

New Delhi: Expressing varied stands on issues of right to expression, BJP on Tuesday said Kashmir`s all-girl band ‘Pragaash’ is being banned due to a politics of vote but justified protests by VHP`s Durga Vahini against a nude art exhibition here as an example of upholding order and morality.

"Within the Constitutional provisions there are fundamental rights which should be ensured to all, subject to public order and morality. Right to expression has its boundaries which should not be crossed," senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters. He was replying to a question on the protests by VHP affiliated Durga Vahini group which had forced the closing down of the exhibition here yesterday. "Debate is a good thing and right of expression is good but dialogue is meant to bring people together, not to divide them," Joshi said. He claimed that change can be brought about through dialogue and this is happening. Joshi, however, appeared to differ about the band and said it has been banned due to votebank politics. Asked about Pragaash, whose members have stopped playing due to fatwas against them, Joshi said the band has a right to protest. "The pressure is always not desirable. In many places some pressure is put which may be fine up to a limit but then it should change. The band was functional and now they have stopped it. This is again a politics of vote and a politics of extremism. This is not a good thing," Joshi said. PTI