New Delhi:
Leela Samson, who resigned as the chief of Censor Board, told NDTV today that "interference and coercion" in the organisation had happened across party lines.
"Recent cases of interference in the working of the (board) by the ministry, through an 'additional charge' CEO, and corrupt panel members has caused a degradation of values that the members of (the Censor Board) and Chairperson stood for," Ms Samson had said in her resignation letter.
But, she told NDTV today, that it was not a 'UPA vs NDA' issue. The interference has been "happening since a long time," said Ms Samson.
Ms Samson had resigned amid a massive row on the film MSG or Messenger of God, starring controversial Dera Sachcha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim.
The Censor Board had found the film "not suitable for public viewing." But after the Censor Board unanimously nixed its release, the ministry referred it to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, which only asked the producers to drop two words from the film.
The speed at which the tribunal cleared MSG was shocking, Ms Samson told NDTV.
She also said she "managed an organisation whose board didn't meet for nine months as there were no funds'
A member of the Censor board, Nandini Sardesai, had backed Ms Samson's allegations of corruption and said she was concerned that the film was cleared in haste.
"We all saw the movie. It was the collective decision of eight of us that the movie was not suitable for public viewing. Usually the Tribunal takes 15 to 30 days to clear a film, but this case was cleared within 24 hours," Ms Sardesai told NDTV.