Munnabhai in jail

 

 

The curtain finally falls on the 1993 Mumbai blast saga. And so it does on Sanjay Dutt’s journey from rubbing shoulders with the underworld dons to illegal possession of arms to going back to Arthur Road Jail. Film fraternity, bloggers, friends and relatives have rallied around “repentant” Dutt, sentenced for six years, of which, he has already served 16 months.

If the judgement “shocked” the majority, there is a section, who think justice has been done, particularly the senior journalist, Nikhil Wagle. Even as the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, felt the “sentence was too harsh,” Wagle “congratulated the judge” for the same.

If the verdict on Sanjay has stunned many, it has also put the Congress on backfoot, at least for the time being. However, the NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister, R.R. Patil, (who spearheaded the ban on dancing bars in Mumbai) has “welcomed” the verdict. “I welcome the verdict, I think everyone is equal before the law,” Patil said. Not that the sentencing is likely to have any negative impact on the Congress MP, Priya Dutta, politically speaking. Despite a certain section, “welcoming”, the verdict, there is a sympathy wave in favour of the Dutt family. Even the Shiv Sena (which had once stood by Sanjay, after he was arrested back in 1993) is silent over the issue. Executive President, Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray said: “For now, I would not like to say anything. I will speak at an appropriate time.” The saffron camp refrained from commenting on the verdict, as “it does not want to politicise the issue.” The party spokesperson, Ravi Shankar Prasad told TSI: “We have not commented on the verdicts so far. Why should we comment now? We don’t want to politicise the issue.” But, the BJP’s star MP, Shatrughan Sinha did rally behind Sanjay Dutt. “I feel Sanjay has become a victim of a conspiracy of circumstances,” he said.

On July 31, some said, “Sanju baba was not wearing his lucky blue shirt.” Almost in every TADA hearing, Sanjay had been clad in a blue shirt and jeans and only on the day of the final judgment, he switched over to white. Over the years, this reckless, pampered boy had not merely matured wisely, but became extremely religious and also somewhat superstitious. And when the judge, P.D. Kode read out the sentence, Sanjay, hopeful till the end, broke down.

Financially, between Rs. 50 to Rs.100 crores is riding on one of the most popular star in Bollywood. Project – ‘Munnabhai’ has come to a stand-still. If the so called justice has been duly delivered at Sanjay's door-step, there is another star son, waiting for his verdict, Salman Khan. He could well go to jail in the black buck case.

Some people are pleased that Kode has not buckled under the star pressure, but then one question does stare at our face. Is Sanjay Dutt paying a price for being a celebrity ?