Attack on Tamil culture: Rahul Gandhi accuses I&B Ministry of blocking Jana Nayagan

Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, voiced his support for the release of actor Vijay’s Jana Nayagan.

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“The I&B Ministry’s attempt to block ‘Jana Nayagan’ is an attack on Tamil culture,” he said on X, formerly Twitter. “Mr Modi, you will never succeed in suppressing the voice of the Tamil people,” he added.

Mr. Gandhi’s observations come a day after Jana Nayagan’s production house, KVN Productions, moved the Supreme Court against a stay order by the Madras High Court on granting censor certification to the film.

Jana Nayagan, starring actor-turned-politician Vijay, was supposed to release on January 9, 2026. However, it failed to clear censor and the production house moved the Madras High Court. When a single judge Bench asked the CBFC to grant U/A 16+ rating, the censor board obtained a stay from the Division Bench. The matter is now before the Supreme Court.

Congress leaders Manickam Tagore, Jothimani, Praveen Chakravarty, and AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Girish Chodankar, have earlier criticised the CBFC and called it an attack on freedom of expression and as an instance of the growing politicisation of statutory institutions.