Prime Minister Narendra Modi today came down heavily on those attempting to discredit the film ‘Kashmir FIles’ and said a campaign was being run by an entire ecosystem to “bury truths” and urged lawmakers of the Bharatiya Janata Party to stand in solidarity with those who try and bring out the truth. The PM’s statement came amid a raging controversy over the film that deals with the exodus and persecution of Kashmiri Pandits decades ago.
Addressing a meeting of the BJP parliamentary party, PM Modi lashed out at voices who were criticising the Kashmir Files movie and trying to ‘discredit’ it without bothering to assess the truth being presented through the film. He said that those who walk around bearing the flag of ‘freedom of expression’ have been rattled by the film. The Prime Minister further said that those who disagree with what has been presented in the film are free to produce their own version.
“These days, you must have seen, the Kashmir Files film is being discussed. Those who walk around with the flag of ‘freedom of expression’ are stunned. Instead of reviewing it on the basis of facts, art, their whole ecosystem is running a campaign to discredit it. Someone has dared to bring the truth to the fore as it appeared to him. However, they are neither ready to understand the truth nor accept it. They are also not ready to let others watch the film. The type of conspiracy that is running for the last four-five days,” said PM Modi.
He further added that bringing truth to the fore always works for the betterment of the country. “My subject is not the film, my subject is, whatever the truth may be, bringing what is true in the right form in front of the country is for the betterment of the country…There may be different aspects of it – some people may see one aspect while some may see another aspect. Those who think this film is not good, they should produce another film, who is stopping them. They are stunned that the fact they had hidden for long is being brought to the fore based on the facts, and someone is doing this after hard work, then the whole ecosystem is against it,” said PM Modi.
While PM Modi spoke about the film outside Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman raised the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits inside the Lok Sabha. Sitharaman said that while the pain of victims cannot be expressed in words even today, many people are still in denial that it did not happen. She slammed the Congress party for alleged tweets which claimed that Kashmiri Pandits were not forced to flee. The tweets were allegedly made by the handle of the Kerala Congress and were deleted later.
Meanwhile, Kashmir Files, written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri, will be screened for Karnataka legislators this evening. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had already made the move tax free. Other states who made it tax-free are Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Goa. The BJP has also demanded that the film be made tax free in Maharashtra and Delhi as well.