A scene from the film The Kerala Story.
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan hits out at controversial upcoming film story of kerala In a Facebook post on Sunday, it was described as a product of the factory of lies of the Sangh Parivar. He said that legal action would be taken against those involved in anti-social activities.
The chief minister’s statement came at a time when the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) and their youth organizations Everyone opposed the film in one voice,
“A glance at the trailer gives an impression that the film was deliberately made with the aim of communal polarization and spreading hatred against Kerala. By making Kerala, the land of secularism, the center of religious extremism, she is repeating the propaganda of the Sangh Parivar. Propaganda films and others of Muslims should be seen in the context of various attempts made by the Sangh Parivar to gain mileage in electoral politics in Kerala,” he said.
Mr Vijayan said the allegations of ‘love jihad’ have been dismissed by central investigative agencies, courts and even the Union Home Ministry. The then Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy had replied in Parliament that there is no such thing as Love Jihad.
“Yet in the film, this false allegation is made the basis of the main story out of an eagerness to humiliate Kerala in front of the world. The Sangh Parivar is trying to destroy the atmosphere of religious harmony in Kerala and sow poisonous seeds of communalism.
The Chief Minister said that the Sangh Parivar was trying to further its divisive politics by using fake stories through such films as its methods, which were successful elsewhere, did not work in Kerala. It is spreading such myths without supporting them with any facts or evidence.
“In the trailer of the film, we can see the hoax that 32,000 women in Kerala converted and became members of the Islamic State. This fake story is a product of the factory of lies of the Sangh Parivar. It is not right to justify those who use cinema just to create divisiveness by giving the argument of freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is not a license to communalise this country, spread lies and divide people.
‘A weapon of fascism’
In a separate statement, Local Self-Government Minister MB Rajesh said the film was part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) devious project to take over Kerala, for which thousands of crores of rupees were being spent. He said that the film is an example of how cinema becomes a tool of fascism.
“The story this film wants to portray is not the real story of Kerala. It is a state which matches developed countries for its social indicators, Human Development Index which is a model for the entire country and is known for its environment of peaceful coexistence,” he said.
National President of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) MP A.A.
Social media is booming in Kerala criticism against the film The trailer, released last week, claimed that the Islamic State (IS) found Kerala a fertile ground to recruit influential youths for its terrorist cause during the period 2016-18. Several commentators pointed out that wildly exaggerated numbers and other claims, without any evidence, are being spread using the film with the intention of providing a distorted picture of Kerala to people from other states and creating hatred against Keralites.