Raipur, Mar 14 (PTI) A BJP MLA on Monday alleged in the Chhattisgarh Assembly that the Congress government doesn’t want people to watch ‘The Kashmir Files’ movie in large numbers and pressuring cinema halls to not sell all tickets to restrict footfalls, a charge refuted by the ruling party as baseless. “This movie has shown the reality and pain of Kashmir Pandits and everybody in the country wants to see it, but this state government is murdering the right to freedom of expression”, senior BJP MLA and former minister Brijmohan Agrawal said in Zero Hour.
The film is being screened in three cinema halls in Chhattisgarh but tickets are not being sold in enough numbers under pressure from the state government, he said.
“Theatre owners have been displaying housefull boards after selling just 10-15 tickets,” Agrawal claimed.
He said the government does not want people to watch this movie, which is unfortunate.
Later talking to reporters in the Assembly premises, Agrawal said that several states have exempted the movie from entertainment tax and demanded that Chhattisgarh should also follow the same step.
The legislator said BJP leaders will watch the movie along with party workers.
Refuting the charges, state Congress in a statement accused the BJP of trying to play politics over the movie.
“The allegations being leveled by the MLA are baseless. The BJP only does politics of polarisation in the name of Hindutva. How BJP has been reacting about the plot of the film ‘Kashmir Files’ reflects it is trying to do politics over atrocities on Kashmiri Pandits. BJP doesn’t care about their pain,” state Congress spokesperson Dhananjay Singh Thakur said.
Written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri and produced by Zee Studios, the film depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir following systematic killings of people from the community by Pakistan-backed terrorists.
It stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi among others. PTI TKP NSK NSK
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