Reacting to the film The Kashmir Files and its resultant controversy, ‘South China Morning Post’, (a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper) under the category ‘This week in Asia’ published an article entitled, ‘The Kashmir Files’ divides India: Bollywood triumph or anti-Muslim propaganda?
The article observes, “As the lights come up and the credits begin to roll on The Kashmir Files, a Hindu man gets to his feet to yell at his fellow movie-goers: “Shoot the traitors.” “Death to Muslims.” “We will have our revenge.” It adds, “Soon other voices join him, their hate-filled shouts briefly transforming the cinema into a murderous anti-Muslim rally, with the crowd whipped into a frenzy by the controversial film they have just seen. Sometimes, the Islamophobic chanting spills out into the streets outside.” It asserts, “These are the disturbing scenes, captured on video and shared widely on social media, that have played out at cinemas across India showing The Kashmir Files. The Hindi-language drama, released earlier this month, has become a box-office smash – even as it polarises Indian viewers.”
The article quotes a Muslim journalist of Delhi as saying that he feared it might “trigger a massacre of Muslims” because it was so provocative.
Middle East Monitor in its article entitled, “This anti-Muslim hate campaign is tearing India apart” states, “The virulent hate campaign by Hindutva forces promoted by the ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and subsequent rise in public and institutional Islamophobia, have combined to create panic among India’s 204 million Muslims, the country’s largest minority community.”
It adds, “A recent film, The Kashmir Files, is another attempt to incite hatred against Muslims through the manipulation of the facts. The film was produced and released to cover up and divert attention from the injustice done to the people of Kashmir and to distort the unsubstantiated allegations that the Hindu pandits — wise men — who lived like brothers with the Muslims in that state were tortured.”
Sensing a dangerous agenda the article observes, “Prime Minister Modi and Interior Minister Amit Shah openly praised the film, even though is generates anti-Muslim feelings among Hindus, undermining the secular principles enshrined in the Constitution of India. In a country where mass murder and even ethnic cleansing of Muslims has been reported, highlighting the killing and exodus of upper caste Hindu Brahmins from Kashmir is part of a dangerous agenda to create an even tenser atmosphere, with anti-Muslim hate speeches and rhetoric making their way into cinemas.”
It also points out that on March 18 at a cinema where this film was being shown, “A video has circulated on social media showing a Hindu man calling on his community to father children from Muslim women.” The writer of the article claims that it was an open call for the mass rape of Muslim women.
The article recalls that Rahul Dholakia’s film Parzania was banned in that state despite being cleared by the board of censors, which was based on the true story of Azhar Mody, the 13-year-old Parsi boy who went missing during the 2002 riots in Gujarat. On the contrary, at least eight BJP-ruled states exempted The Kashmir Files from entertainment tax, the author laments.
The articles highlights that “Around 14 per cent of India’s 1.35 billion people are Muslims. They feel more marginalised than ever under Modi’s government. The laws introduced by the federal and many state governments ruled by Modi’s party, and some of the verdicts announced by the courts, are direct attacks on the personal laws that allow marriage, divorce and inheritance according to the terms of the Islamic Shari’ah.”
Mentioning Islamophobia, Gujarat pogrom, attacks against Muslims targeting halal food and other matters related to their faith, Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai apps and the hijab ban campaign; the article concludes, “In the meantime, the anti-Muslim hate campaign continues to tear India apart. It is to be hoped that the Supreme Court will take the opportunity to stop the slide towards officially-sanctioned religious hatred in what is still, in theory at least, a secular country.”
