Patna: The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) today (Oct 15, 2004) said that the Central Government had withheld the showing of a film on Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan because it described his role in the resistance against Emergency. The party's national vice-president, S K Modi, said it would raise the issue in the next session of Parliament starting on December 1.

"Public broadcaster -- Prasar Bharati -- decided to with-hold the telecast of the film on Jayaprakash Narayan on Doordarshan on October 11 as it contained portrayal of his role in the resistance against the Emergency of the Seventies," Modi said in a press statement.

He claimed that the entire Opposition would raise the issue in the next session of Parliament if the film was not cleared for release without making any change in the original format.

Modi criticised Railway Minister Laloo Prasad for backing the decision for withholding the telecast of the film.