Vivek Agnihotri’s session at literature festival cancelled in Dehradun

The Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri continues to be in the news for his film that has polarised people in the country. Along with Agnihotri and other actors of the film, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have been at the forefront in promoting the film on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley.

It was thus surprising that organisers of a literature festival being held in the BJP-ruled Uttarakhand had to cancel a ‘conversation’ with Vivek Agnihotri and Pallavi Joshi, actor and Agnihotri’s wife, citing ‘security reasons’. Uttarakhand is one of the six BJP-ruled states where the film was made tax-free.

The said security reasons have not been made public till now. Through its Instagram handle — dehradunliteraturefestival — an announcement was made a day ago that “Due to security reasons, Mr Vivek Agnihotri & Mrs Pallavi Joshi’s session at the 4th Edition of the Dehradun Literature Festival stands cancelled.”

The annual Dehradun Literature Festival, whose fourth edition is being held in the Uttarakhand capital from April 1-3, had on March 11 put a poster on its Instagram handle announcing the event.

“Join us to catch an exciting conversation between Vivek Agnihotri and Pallavi Joshi with Vishal Chaturvedi in context to The Kashmir Files,” the post said.

It, however, did not specify the venue or the date for the session, an information that was given for all other events in the festival.