Chhattisgarh CM watches Kashmir Files, says it shows half-truths

Amid the ongoing debate over Hindi film The Kashmir Files, which is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus in 1990s, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has claimed the movie portrays half truth and only shows violence without conveying any message.

Baghel was talking to reporters late Wednesday night after watching the movie at a multiplex in Raipur along with his cabinet colleagues and other MLAs.

"...the film shows half truth. It does not suggest any solution and no attempt is made in this direction. It does not have any message and only shows violence which does not make any sense," Baghel said when asked for his reaction to the movie.

He said the film is based on terror incidents and the story line focuses on an incident with a family, which takes the movie forward.

"An attempt was made to give a political message. It is shown in the film that the V P Singh government, which was then in power (at the Centre) with the BJP's support, did not try to stop the Kashmiri Pandits (exodus), rather asked them to leave," the senior Congress leader said.

"The Army was not sent there. When former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi raised the issue in the Lok Sabha, the Army was sent there," he said.

Further hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, Baghel said, "Even today, the problem stands the same. Article 370 (that ensured special status to Jammu and Kashmir) has been revoked, but no step taken yet to rehabilitate them (Kashmiri Hindus)."

Even the film has not suggested any solution to the problem. When a movie is made, it also features the solution to a problem, but the director has not addressed it and only a 'lecture has been delivered', he claimed.

This (central) government has done only politics after the abrogation of Article 370 and no measures have been taken to provide assistance to Kashmiri Pandits, the CM claimed.

He also slammed Chhattisgarh BJP MLAs as they did not come to watch the film despite being invited by him, and said they run away when anyone confronts them.

State Congress spokesperson R P Singh said no MLAs from opposition parties -- the BJP, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) -- in the state came to watch the film on Wednesday along with CM.

Amid the opposition BJP's demand for a tax break to The Kashmir Files in Chhattisgarh, Baghel on Wednesday said the BJP-led Union government should waive the GST on the movie so that it will become tax-free in the country.

The CM had on Wednesday invited all the MLAs, including from the opposition parties, to watch the film at a mall in Raipur.