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        The people of India offer their reverential salutations to the Andhra Pradesh High Court for having struck down the barbarous, uncivilized and illegal A.P. Government order prohibiting exhibition of the film The Da Vinci Code. The High Court has held that the order is arbitrary and against Article 19(1)(a), Article 19 (2) and Article 14 of the Constitution of India. 'The authority banning the film, the Andhra Pradesh Special Chief Secretary, had not even seen the film and mechanically approved the 'hecklers veto',' declared the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

        The Andhra Pradesh Government, under a Christian Chief Minister, has been giving the impression that it is contemptemtuous of all things Hindu and has been only fiddling with non-issues like release or non-release of commercial controversial films like The Da Vinci Code. It is also not impossible to come to the view that Andhra Pradesh Government is interested only in building up Christian Institutions in Tirumala Hills. It has giving a message to the effect that all the Hindus of Andhra Pradesh in majority are non-citizens in respect of matters concerning their life and death.

        It is in this context that the HC verdict has come. The Andhra Pradesh High Court has said: 'The film is a work of fiction and is exhibited for commercial purposes. Those who are offended by the content or its theme are free to avoid watching the film. The objectors are thus not captive audience of the film. Dissenters of speech and expression have no constitutional right in respect of the intellectual, moral, religious, dogmatic (beliefs) or of the choices of mankind. The Constitution of India does not confer or tolerate such individualized, hyper-sensitive private censorial intrusion into and regulation of the guaranteed freedom of others. The right to communicate ideas, facts, knowledge, information, belief, theories, creative and extreme impulse by speech, a written drama, word theatre, dance, music is an essential component of the protected rights and may be exercised untrammeled, uninterrupted and unrestricted. The same cannot be taken away by unreasonable Government restraint.'

        The Government of Tamilnadu has also functioned on the same lines as the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Both Governments are known for their pronounced anti-Hindu bias, though different in their approaches and ideologies. Ever since the days of Sarkaria Commission, people are aware of the ways of Dravidian Governments in Tamilnadu.

        I only earnestly hope against hope that the Government of Tamilnadu would not await the orders of the Madras High Court in a new case to be filed before taking suo moto decision to withdraw the illegal ban on the film in question. I am convinced that the Indian Constitution does not differentiate between the Rule of Law in Andhra Pradesh and in Tamilnadu.