India’s favourite quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati hosted by the megastar Amitabh Bachchan is under the scanner for ‘disrespecting’ the legendary Maratha warrior of the 17th century, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, by referring to him merely with his first name and calling a Mughal emperor powerful. The criticism has been directed towards Sony TV by BJP MLA Nitesh Rane who demands an apology from the channel.
The minister said, “@sonykbc10 has insulted (Shivaji Maharaj) by referring him in first person singular form. It should tender apology at the earliest. If they delay it (apology) further, the show will not have any lifeline to continue further.”
The controversy is based on a question that was asked in the show on Wednesday evening about the contemporaries of Aurangazeb, a powerful Mughal ruler of 17th century. The options listed under the question had only “Shivaji”, which was also the right option, mentioned in his first name while other names were written as Maharana Pratap, Rana Sanga and Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
The question read verbatim as “‘Which of these rulers was the contemporary of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb?’ and the options were Maharana Pratap, Rana Sanga, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Shivaji.”
This act of disrespecting history has been received with disappointment by many viewers of Maharashtra. Most of them have taken to the social platform and criticize Sony and demanded a proper apology. Twitter was barraged with the trending hashtag ‘#Boycott_KBC_SonyTV’ using which the users expressed their disappointment with the show and highlighted the majesty of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
One of the users tweeted, “#Boycott_KBC_SonyTV Disgusting to know that The only Ruler Reverend Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was called bluntly by his name without giving due respect to him & a cruel crusader Aurangzeb was called Mughal Samrat.”
However, Sony TV has apologized for the act through tweeter and a scroll expressing regret on the Thursday episode of the show. Sony TV tweeted, “There was an inaccurate reference to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj during Wednesday’s KBC episode, due to inadvertence. We deeply regret the same and being mindful of the sentiments of our viewers have carried a scroll expressing regret during our episode yesterday. #KBC11″
