New Delhi: Hours after the West Bengal government announced to ban the film ‘The Kerala Story’ in the state, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Locket Chatterjee on Monday slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and called her ‘anti-Hindu, anti-India and anti-women’. Speaking to the news agency ANI, Chatterjee also said that the ban has been imposed for ‘Muslim votes’.
“She made a huge mistake. She doesn’t know Bengalis… If she is banning ‘The Kerala Story’, it seems Mamata Banerjee is anti-Hindu, anti-India, and anti-women. The film is based on ISIS and nothing else. It means she is trying to ban this film to hide something,” Locket Chatterjee said.
The BJP MP added that Mamata is banning a film by director Sudipto Sen, a Bengali filmmaker.
“She seeks votes in the names of Bengalis but bans a film on Muslims. This has been done for Muslim votes,” she said.
Earlier on Monday, a senior West Bengal government official said that Mamata Banerjee has ordered an immediate ban on the screening of the controversial film ‘The Kerala Story’ to avoid ‘any incident of hatred and violence’.
“To avoid any incident of hatred and violence and to maintain peace in the state, the CM has directed an immediate ban on screening of ‘The Kerala Story’. Action will be taken against any cinema hall that violates the ban,” the West Bengal government official told news agency PTI.
His remarks came hours after Banerjee alleged at a news conference that ‘The Kashmir Files’ was made to humiliate one section of the society whereas ‘The Kerala Story’ was a distorted movie aimed at defaming the southern state.
West Bengal became the first state to ban the moviean action which Union Minister Anurag Thakur said was beyond his understanding why the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief’s sympathies were with terror organisations and not with the innocent girls from Kerala.
“Mamata Banerjee has done injustice to the sisters and daughters of West Bengal by banning the film. She should tell whether she is standing with those who promote a terrorist ideology or is standing against it,” Thakur, who is the Information and Broadcasting Minister, told reporters.
The West Bengal BJP unit said the ban was a blatant attempt to scuttle ‘free speech’ and appease a section of the minority community to serve its political interests. The TMC dubbed the allegations against the party as ‘baseless’ and accused the BJP of trying to create a ‘communal narrative’ across the country ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Directed by Sudipto Sen, the film depicts how women from Kerala were forced to convert to Islam and recruited by the terror group Islamic State (IS). The film, which was released on May 5, has kicked up a political storm.