Pinarayi Vijayan targets ‘Sangh Parivar’ over ‘The Kerala Story’ row
Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that ‘The Kerala Story’ film is promoted by the RSS and urged the youth to “stand in front of it”.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday alleged that the film ‘The Kerala Story’, which created a huge controversy before and after its release, is promoted by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or Sangh Parivar and termed the film one of the means used by the right-wing organisation to divide society.
Also Read| The Kerala Story draws nation’s attention to love jihad: Yogi Adityanath
“The film is promoted by Sangh Parivar. It is one of the means used by them to divide society. What they want is not unity, they are trying to divide us. We must be able to overcome this and move forward. The youth should stand in front of it,” news agency ANI quoted the chief minister as saying.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath earlier on Friday watched a special screening of the film in Lucknow along with his ministerial colleagues, and claimed that the movie draws the nation's attention to 'love jihad'.
Also Read| Hindu Yuva Vahini to carry out drive to promote ‘The Kerala Story’
‘The Kerala Story’ claims to depict how some women from the state were allegedly forced to convert to Islam and recruited by the terror group Islamic State (ISIS). Directed by Sudipto Sen, the film was released on May 5.
Responding to a petition against West Bengal's decision to ban the screening of the film, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the state to file its reply, observing that if the film was being shown in other states and there did not appear to be any reason why it could not be screened.
The top court also issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government where theatre owners decided against screening the film fearing violence. “We would like to know from you (Tamil Nadu) the specific administrative arrangements made by you. We do not think the administration can say that we will look the other way when chairs are broken or theatres are attacked. It is a law and order problem,” a bench told the state’s additional advocate general Amit Anand who had insisted that security arrangements were already in place.
(With inputs from agencies)