The Kashmir Files: Unmasking Hindutva Mindset

Minorities in India are under severe stress of Modi government’s discriminatory policies, aimed at praising Hindus zealots. Muslims in India and Jammu and Kashmir are being portrayed as terrorists and outsiders. Hindu fanatics are making their lives miserable with every passing day. Whenever any terrorists incident happens in India or Kashmir, Hindu establishment of Modi accused Muslims of orchestrating that incident. This has become anomaly in Modi’s India as liberal voices within the country are being suppressed and targeted. Modi’s India is trying to malign Muslims living across the country while calling them anti-nationals. In this regard, Modi government released a movie highlighting oppressions in Jammu and Kashmir while projecting Muslims as terrorists. After the release of anti-Muslim movie, various organizations, scholars and liberals are targeting government for hurting sentiments of Muslims.

The Kashmir Files is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language drama film produced by Zee Studios, the film is based on the story of exodus of Kashmiri Hindus during the Kashmir Insurgency. The Kashmir Files’ is a story, based on video interviews of the first generation victims of the Genocide of Kashmiri Pandit Community In 1990. Critics have accused the film of being a work of historical revisionism and consider it to be propaganda aimed at fostering prejudice against Kashmiri Muslims. It was declared tax-free in multiple states and became a box office success. It is also widely believed that the film has BJP/RSS government's patronage and support. The producer of Kashmir Files Vivek Agnihotri promoted the film as depicting the truth of Kashmir, which is merely showoff. Entire international community knows very well how Muslims are being attacked in India and Kashmir particularly. They are facing filth of Modi government’s Hindutva driven policies.

Likewise, the film is seen depicting the India’s leading liberal educational institute Jawaharlal Nehru University as an anti-national, terror-friendly. The Article 370 of Indian Constitution that granted a autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir is termed as one of the reasons for the displacement of the Kashmiri Pandits. Overall, experts described the film as disturbing; a work of concocted and agenda driven historical revisionism, created with no facts, lies, and plenty of distortions aimed at inciting hatred against Muslims.

Due to the biasedness of the film, leading Indian films producers termed the movie as propaganda against Muslims. Shubhra Gupta, Indian film critic and columnist gave the film a 1.5 out of 5 stars; for the sole reason that, the film was held to be a work of propaganda aligned with the ruling party's discourse that only aimed to stoke the deep-seated anger of pundits. Similarly, Rahul Desai, a film critic found the work to be a fantasy-revisionist rant lacking in clarity, craft, and sense where every Muslim was a Nazi and every Hindu, a Jew. Desai graded the film totally unconvincing screenplay with weak characters.

The production company Zee Studios is behind the film, written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri, who says that it represents the flight of Kashmiri Pandits from their homes during the Kashmir Insurgency. It is pertinent to mention here that Zee News Network has been proactively floating anti-Muslims in India while being the mouthpiece of Modi government. The analysts, anchors and news person entire Zee News’ media fraternity blatantly spreading venom against Muslims and other minorities.

So, it is become evident that the real motives behind making of the film are political in nature. The facts have been distorted and presented as per the whims of Indian warmongering establishment. Even the release of the film was delayed multiple times due to its political and biased approach. The sad thing about the film is participation of renowned Bollywood actors like Anupam Kher in the movie. The showbiz fraternity in India also become political tool of BJP’s government and they are also part of spreading Hindutva driven policies of Modi’s BJP and RSS.

Sadly, Hindu fanatics are leading the campaign to malign Muslims. Prominent Hindus urged all BJP state governments to declare the movie tax free. They are also demonstrating that Hindus of this nation should be aware of the cost they paid for secularism and cost they will pay in future for defending it. The real fact is that Kashmir issue is not about any one religion. It has destroyed one entire state with many families destroyed. All talk about humanity but in doing this will there be any humanity left because all this will lead only to hatred and destruction for each other particularly Muslims. The movie is all about money making tricks, business tricks, hatred spreading tricks, which sadly now-a-days been a trend in our India. It’s not just a movie, it’s a disclaimer for current and future non-Muslims. If not for yourself then do it for your upcoming generation.

To concluded, if killing of 219 Kashmiri Pundits in Kashmir is horrific and terrible, then what happened in Delhi riots, Assam riots and the 2004 Gujarat riots where thousands of people were killed, gang rapped, even pregnant women were chopped off live, we should be devising new words in the English language. There are more than a 100,000 Kashmiris killed in Kashmir, the ratio of 100,000 and 219 just requires a simple math. Indian government must answer these questions.