UP CM Yogi Watches ‘The Kerala Story’ With His Cabinet Ministers, Congratulates Film Cast & Makers

As ‘The Kerala Story’ continues to be a part of political discourse, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath watched the film at a “special screening” along with his cabinet members at the Lok Bhavan in Lucknow on Friday.

Taking to Twitter, the chief minister said, “watched the film ‘The Kerala Story’ at a special screening today with honourable members of my cabinet. Hearty congratulations and best wishes to all the people associated with this film!”

Along with him, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, UP BJP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary as well as school children were among those present for the screening of the film.

After watching the film, UP Transport Minister Dayashankar Singh claimed that it was based on true events and it showed how teenage girls were lured and  brainwashed into wrong things, news agency PTI said.

“They are taken to other countries and it is impossible to return from there. They are tortured over there and are forced to work for terrorist organisations,” he said.

Before him, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also watched the film with his cabinet colleagues and his family members at a a multiplex in Guwahati.

The latest on Kerala story row

This comes as the Supreme Court today issued a notice over a plea filed by makers of ‘The Kerala Story’ seeking to lift the ban on the film in West Bengal and the defacto ban in Tamil Nadu.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud observed that the film is being exhibited across the country and there was no reason to ban it in West Bengal. “The film is being exhibited in the rest of the country. There is no reason why it should be banned in West Bengal. The film is running in different parts of the country with similar demographic profiles. This has nothing to do with the cinematic value of the movie- it may be good or bad,” the court observed.

The movie, directed by Sudipto Sen, has triggered an intense debate and a political row, with the BJP coming out in it’s support, and the Opposition parties like CPI(M), Congress calling it a propaganda.

The movie is about forced religious conversion and alleges that about 32,000 women in Kerala were converted to Islam and many were sent to ISIS-ruled Syria at the pinnacle of the terror group’s dominance.

However, there have been objections regarding to the ‘inaccuracy’ of the claim and that it spreads ‘hate speech’ against Muslims.

Tax-free screening vs bans

Adityanath on Tuesday said that the state will make The Kerala Story tax-free. The announcement comes days after the Madhya Pradesh government said it will give tax-free status to the film in the state.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday had ordered an immediate ban on the screening of the film in the state to avoid ‘any incident of hatred and violence’, a senior state government official said.