'Hate Propaganda': The Kerala Story Draws CM Pinarayi Vijayan's Ire

The Kerala Story is all set to release on May 5 but the film has already been in the eye of the storm with many political leaders demanding a ban on it. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused it of being a propaganda film aimed at communal polarisation. He said that the trailer of the film is trying to spread the propaganda of Sangh Parivar. 

"The trailer of the Hindi film The Kerala Story, which appears to have been deliberately made with the aim of communal polarisation and to spread hate propaganda against Kerala was released last day. It is indicated from the trailer that this film is trying to spread the propaganda of Sangh Parivar, which has established itself as the centre of religious extremism in the land of secularism, Kerala," said CM Vijayan.

He further said that people must see the propaganda of Sangh Parivar to gain an electoral advantage in Kerala. He said that even investigative agencies have rejected the concept of 'love jihad'. "It is necessary to see propaganda films and their Muslim alienation in the background of various efforts being made by Sangh Parivar to gain an advantage in electoral politics in Kerala. It is part of a systematic move to frame the 'love jihad' allegations which were rejected by the investigating agencies, the courts and even the Union Home Ministry. G Kishan Reddy, the then MoS Home who is a minister in the cabinet even today had replied in the Parliament that there is no such thing as 'love jihad'," said the Kerala CM in a statement. 

He accused the Sangh of spreading division politics through fake stories and movies. "Seeing that Parivar politics does not work in Kerala like in other places, they are trying to spread division politics through fake stories and movies. The Sangh Parivar is spreading such myths without any facts and evidence. The big lie that 32,000 women in Kerala converted to Islam and joined the Islamic State was what we saw in the trailer of the film.  This fake story is the product of the Sangh Parivar's lie factory," alleged CM Vijayan.

The film has attracted the ire of CPI(M) and Congress as well since its trailer was released on April 26. Both parties said that freedom of expression was not a licence to spew venom in society, and the film was an attempt to destroy the communal harmony of the state. 'The Kerala Story' is written and directed by Sudipto Sen. The film portrays 'unearthing' the events behind 'approximately 32,000 women' allegedly going missing in the southern state.