Left MP writes to the Centre seeking probe into fallacious claims made by The Kerala Story
Thiruvananthapuram, May 3 : Senior CPI leader and Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam has urged the Centre to initiate an enquiry into the “fallacious claims” being made in the controversial Hindi movie The Kerala story, and said the upcoming film intends to malign the image of the southern state and its people. In a letter sent to Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, he alleged that the film was based on baseless claims, fake news and Islamophobic propaganda. “The Kerala Story is based on baseless claims, fake news and Islamophobic propaganda and intends to malign the image of the state of Kerala and its people,” Viswam said in the letter. The official trailer of the film is nothing but a “politically-motivated hatred campaign” against Kerala and the Muslim community, he charged. The film claims to “unearth” the story of 32,000 women who allegedly went missing in Kerala and this is based on lies and extrapolations, he pointed out in the letter. The Left leader also said the film deliberately misquoted and misinterpreted statements made by former chief ministers of the state V S Achuthanandan and Oommen Chandy. The statement made by Achuthanandan had been translated incorrectly to malign the Muslim community and Chandy never mentioned any annual figure of conversions nor did he mention women joining ISIS or forced conversions, Viswam said.
It was evident that the film was misrepresenting statements by both the CMs to mislead the people, he charged. Taking a cue, several media and YouTube channels have also started a tirade against Kerala, he said, adding that people of the state in general have opposed in a united voice this politically motivated attempt to slander the state. “The so-called love jihad is a baseless Islamophobic conspiracy theory aimed at polarisation. The Union Home Ministry, through MoS G Kishan Reddy, on 05 February 2020, has informed Parliament that no cases of love jihad had been reported,” the MP said. Stating that the I&B Ministry had a crucial role to play in educating and sensitising people on the secular ethos of our Constitution, he said the ministry was also responsible to ensure, by creating awareness, that fake news and hateful propaganda should not be taken as the truth.
“Therefore, I urge you to initiate an enquiry into the fallacious claims being made through the movie,” he said.
Filmmakers should corroborate their narrative with facts before the movie is released to the general public in the best interest of amity, harmony and truth, Viswam added in the letter.
The Kerala Story, starring Adah Sharma and written and directed by Sudipto Sen, is set to be released in cinemas on May 5.
According to the CPI(M) and the Congress in Kerala, the film falsely claims that 32,000 women got converted and radicalised and were deployed in terror missions in India and the world.
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