Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said on Wednesday that the movie The Kashmir Files glorified violence and offered “no clear solution to the problems”. He made the comments after watching the movie along with several member of the state’s legislative Assembly.
“The movie is showing half truth, but even in that, it is clear that the BJP-supported government at the Centre did nothing to help the Kashmiri Pandits,” Baghel said.
In the Assembly earlier on Wednesday, the BJP had accused the Congress government in the state of stifling free speech by not letting movie theatres run at full capacity. Baghel had said he would not comment on the movie before watching it, and then invited everyone present in the House to watch it with him.
Along with Baghel, several Congress ministers, MLAs, government employees and some mediapersons watched the 8 pm show of the movie at a theatre in Raipur. “The movie has no clear message, although enough is being said in the monologues of the main characters… There is only violence or politics done through religion. Terror has no religion,” Baghel said after the movie.
Accusing senior BJP leaders of not taking any action at the time of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir in the early 1990s — which is what Kashmir Files is based on — Baghel said the movie showed the failure of BJP politicians of that time.
“The V P Singh government sat over the issue and didn’t take any action. Jagmohan (Malhotra) ji was the lieutenant governor of the region. Despite announcement of President’s rule, no efforts were made to stop the Pandits from fleeing. In fact, they were encouraged. The government only sent Army to handle the situation after Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi stepped up the protest and gheraoed the Lok Sabha,” he said.