'The Kerala Story': Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan warns of legal action

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has made it clear that his government will initiate legal action against the Hindi film ‘The Kerala Story’, which is allegedly propagating communal hatred based on “blatant lies” produced in Sangh Parivar “lie factories”.

“Those who try to communally polarise the society should not be justified in the name of freedom of expression,” the chief minister said in a statement. “Right to expression is not a licence to communalise the society and spread false narratives,” said Vijayan.

Reject the film: Vijayan’s appeal

He urged the Malayali community to reject the film that aims to spread communal disharmony among people using disinformation.

“From the trailer itself it is clear that the film ‘The Kerala Story’ is trying to further the Sangh Parivar narrative by placing Kerala as the epicentre of religious extremism. These propaganda films and the Muslim alienation they put forward should be viewed in the wake of the efforts made by the Sangh Parivar to make a foothold in Kerala electoral politics,” read the statement.

Also read: Case filed against ‘Kerala Story’; says it ‘promotes Muslim hatred, defames state’

Based on ‘rejected’ premise

“The very premise of the movie, ‘Love Jihad’, which has been rejected even by the Union government, speaks volumes about the orchestrated nature of the campaign to malign Kerala. Keshen Reddy, the state minister for home affairs at the time, had stated in the Lok Sabha that there was no such thing as a ‘Love Jihad’.”

“The goal of the Sangh Parivar is to destroy the atmosphere of communal harmony and plant the seeds of animosity among communities. They are attempting to achieve this by disseminating false information like this as their divisive tactics are not getting traction in Kerala,” claimed Vijayan.

“The film’s trailer spreads the blatant lie that 32 000 young women from Kerala converted to Islam and joined ISIS. This comes from the ‘lie factory’ of Sangh Parivar,” Vijayan added.

Directed by Sudipto Sen

The controversial film, ‘The Kerala Story’, directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Gujarat-based producer and director Vipul Amrutlal Shah with Adah Sharma as the lead, is set to hit theatres on May 5.

Also read: Some Indians enjoy Arab hospitality but can’t give up Islamophobia

While most of the secular and anti-BJP parties and organisations have raised their voices against the film, it is getting support from the right-wing activists who argue for the freedom of expression of the makers of the film. Sen’s earlier work, ‘In the Name of Love’, an hour-long documentary on the subject of purportedly illegal female religious conversions in Kerala, had attracted similar criticism for disseminating false information.