Dispur: All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) president Badruddin Ajmal said he will request Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Assam CM Sarma to ban the film immediately as it has led to a "Hindu-Muslim divide and is likely to lead to communal tension".
"These incidents (of Kashmir) happened over three decades ago and such a situation does not exist now. If the film is not banned, it will lead to unnecessary violence," the Dhubri MP said. Thousands of Muslims were killed in the Nellie massacre in 1983 in Assam but nobody has made a film on that incident, he said.
At least 1,800 Muslims (unofficial figure runs higher) were killed in six hours in Assam's Nagaon district on February 18, 1983, by a mob as a fallout of a controversial Assembly election in the state. This is known as the Nellie massacre.
"We must not raise such issues now but must maintain peace at any cost," Ajmal added. He admitted that he has not watched 'The Kashmir Files' but said, "I have noticed the hype created around the film on social media which reflects the Hindutva agenda of the BJP and RSS". The movie has earned praise from the prime minister and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states.
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday announced a half-day special leave for employees in the state to watch The Kashmir Files. While making the announcement, he added that the employees will only have to inform their superior officers and submit the tickets the next day to avail themselves of the half-day leave. The announcement came after the CM himself enjoyed the movie along with all his cabinet colleagues and BJP legislators at a theatre in Guwahati on Tuesday.
Several BJP-ruled states have already made the controversial movie tax-free, including Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Dev who recently appealed to the people of the state to watch the movie and waved off the taxes on it.
The Kashmir Files, released in theatres on March 11, depicts the exodus of the Kashmiri Pundits from the Valley due to the spate of an insurgency in the 1990s. The movie is directed by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, starring Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumaar among others.
Meanwhile, PM Modi also endorsed the film on Tuesday, while addressing BJP's parliamentary party meeting ahead of the beginning of the day's proceedings in Parliament. He said that there are a lot of topics like the 1975 emergency or the partition on which no authentic films have been made. "The film has shown the truth which was suppressed for years. Those who tried to hide the truth are opposing the film now," the PM said.
Also, read Watch: PM Modi hails The Kashmir Files, says 'those who tried to hide the truth are opposing film'
