West Bengal bans “The Kerala Story” as CM deems it “distorted story.”
Indian media claims that the decision to outlaw the movie ‘The Kerala Story’ was made on Monday at the state secretariat, and that Banerjee then gave the state chief secretary instructions to make sure that it was taken off the screens that were showing it in the state.
The film has been outlawed by the West Bengali government after critics said it incites anti-Muslim sentiment and fosters racial animosity.
The film, which asserts that 32,000 Hindu and Christian women from Kerala, a state with a mix of religions, have converted to Islam and that some of them were recruited by the dangerous Islamic State (IS) group, has, however, been backed by the right-wing ruling coalition.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised the movie, and Hindu fundamentalists claim that it accurately portrays Hinduism. However, the film has come under fire from critics for spreading falsehoods that serve as a catalyst for racial tension and unrest. The phrase “dedicated to the thousands of girls in Kerala and Mangalore who didn’t come back home after their conversions” is still present in the ending credits.
Sukanta Majumdar, the state head of the BJP, reportedly criticised Mamata Banerjee for her decision to impose the ban on the movie, saying Banerjee wanted to “close her eyes to the reality.” In addition, he said that the movie depicts “Islamists trapping Hindu girls into Love Jihad and later sending to become ISIS terrorists.”
According to Mamata Banerjee, the decision to forbid the film was made in order to “maintain peace in Bengal” and prevent any incidents of violence and hate crimes. Additionally, she said that “the BJP was funding a Bengali film along the lines of Kashmir Files.”
