Mangal Pandey kin seek revenge

BANDHUCHAK (BALLIA): As Ballia witnesses a battle of nerves between BJP’s Virendra Singh Mast, a Rajput, and Sanatan Pandey, the gathbandhan candidate from SP, brothers Santosh Kumar Pandey and Prabhu Nath Pandey – the fifth generation descendants of 1857 revolt hero Mangal Pandey, who was hanged by the British – vow to stand solidly behind the saffron party.
The brothers get agitated at any reference to the 2005 Bollywood movie -- Mangal Pandey The Rising -- that had forced them to file a lawsuit against the filmmakers for alleged distortion of the character. Fourteen years after the movie, the family has hopes from the BJP government that it will restore the honour to Mangal Pandey.
“There were objections to parts of the movie. That is past now. But we hope that Narendra Modiji will restore honour to Mangal Pandeyji one day by releasing a postal ticket on him and by installing his statue inside Parliament,” says Santosh, who works as a school teacher. “If we are sitting safely today in free India, it is because of the trust we have in the Narendra Modi government. We are delighted the way India struck at Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack,” says Prabhu Nath, 63, a retired irrigation department employee.