India’s West Bengal Bans Controversial Film ‘The Kerala Story’ :
The right-wing ruling coalition fiercely defended a film that critics claimed incited racial tension and anti-Muslim propaganda, but despite this, West Bengal’s government outlawed it.
According to “The Kerala Story” movie, 32,000 Hindu and Christian women from Kerala have converted to Islam, with some of them being enlisted by the extremist Islamic State (IS) organization.
Critics have criticized the movie for propagating misinformation intended to stir up racial tension and instability in the community.
Despite the criticism, the film appreciates the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hardliners in the Hindu community who believe its representation is accurate to have praised it.
The movie was deemed a “distorted story” by West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose party opposes Modi, and it was later outlawed in the state, which has a population larger than Germany.
In Kolkata, she told reporters: “This is to avoid any incident of hatred and violence, and to maintain peace in the state.”
The initial trailer for the movie implied that thousands of women had fled their homes “to be buried in the deserts.”
However, as the backlash grew, the filmmakers changed it to state that it was a tale of three Keralan ladies.
The filmmakers modified the initial trailer of the movie as the backlash grew, changing its implication that thousands of women had fled their homes “to be buried in the deserts,” and instead stating that it was a story of three Keralan ladies.
In spite of this, the film’s end titles dedicate it to “the thousands of girls in Kerala and Mangalore who didn’t come back home after their conversions.”
Anurag Thakur
Anurag Thakur, India’s minister of information, defended the movie by saying that it shows “the reality of IS.”
Thakur continued by saying that by prohibiting the film, West Bengal was essentially siding with terrorist organisations that “lure women with love.” According to his statements to broadcaster India Today, he advised everyone to see the movie in order to understand the goals of these terror organisations, who operate all over the world but recruit in specific regions of India.
It would be of considerable concern if thousands of Indian people joined IS, which has not previously caused concern among counterterrorism specialists.
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