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One of India’s largest states on Monday banned a film critics accused of stoking communal hatred and propaganda in opposition to Muslims however defended strongly by the ruling right-wing Hindu authorities.
“The Kerala Story” claims that 32,000 Hindu and Christian girls from the mixed-faith state of Kerala have transformed to Islam, and that some had been recruited by the Islamic State jihadist group.
Critics have referred to as the movie out for peddling lies geared toward fomenting communal polarisation and unrest.
But the film has been endorsed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and seized on by Hindu hardliners who say its portrayal is correct.
The state of West Bengal, which has a bigger inhabitants than Germany, on Monday banned the film, with chief minister Mamata Banerjee — whose celebration opposes Modi’s — slamming it as a “distorted story”.
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“This is to avoid any incident of hatred and violence, and to maintain peace in the state,” she informed reporters in Kolkata.
The trailer for the Hindi-language movie initially claimed that 1000’s of girls had fled their houses “to be buried in the deserts” however as controversy mounted it was edited to say it was a narrative about three girls from Kerala.
But the closing credit nonetheless say it’s “dedicated to the thousands of girls in Kerala and Mangalore who didn’t come back home after their conversions”.
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Anurag Thakur, the data and broadcast minister, mentioned the movie confirmed “the reality of ISIS” and that by banning it, West Bengal was successfully siding with terror outfits that “lure women with love”.
“Everyone must see this movie to understand the agenda of these terror outfits who operate globally but do their recruitment in some parts of India,” Thakur informed broadcaster India Today.
Indian authorities haven’t beforehand expressed concern that 1000’s of their residents could have joined Islamic State (additionally recognized by the acronym ISIS), a prospect which might alarm counter-terrorism specialists.
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Multiplexes within the southern state of Tamil Nadu have additionally stopped the screenings of the film fearing violence and unrest.
The controversy comes after “The Kashmir Files”, about Hindus fleeing from Muslim-majority Kashmir in 1989-90, final 12 months noticed incidents of individuals in cinemas calling for revenge killings of Muslims.
India, the world’s largest democracy, in January banned the screening of a BBC documentary about Modi’s position throughout lethal 2002 sectarian riots in Gujarat, calling it “hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage”.
abh/slb/mtp
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