Weaponsing a Tragedy: Vivek Agnihotri’s ‘Kashmir Files’ Ups ‘Facts Vs Myths’ Debate on Pandits

New Delhi, 15 Mar 2022 [Fik/News Sources]: Bollywood director Vivek Agnihotri who is known for his controversies has raked a polarising debate on Kashmiri Pandits with his new film KashmirFiles.

The film is facing criticisms for making exaggerated claims on the tragedy with a view to exploit the tragic events that occurred 32 years ago to provoke nationalist sentiments against an entire community (read Indian Muslims).

Kashmiri Pandits are a numerically minority community who fled the Valley in early 90s when insurgency against Indian rule broke out in the region. There are instances where militants targeted members of the community that sparked a dread and thereby triggered their migration.

Over the years, rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley has largely ended up with failure. This is despite several government initiatives along with the efforts for reconciliation between the communities.

Agnihotri’s film projects killings and migration of Pandits as a genocide claiming thousands of casualties. The social media is overflowing with posts from users backing the controversial director even as many others countered his claims with facts.

Journalist Samrat Chaudhary called KashmirFiles an “atrocity propaganda movie”. He shared a photo of a page from Prof Sumantra Bose on Kashmiri Pandits which claimed that only 32 members of the community were killed in militant violence. He asked where films on “genocide” of Bengali Hindus in Assam are.

To counter the claims made in the film, people are also sharing the information from an RTI response by Jammu and Kashmir police in November 2021 which says 89 Pandits have been killed since 1990

Alt News editor Mohammad Zubair wrote on Twitter that the movie is weaponising the Pandit tragedy to “create hatred against the opposition & Muslim minorities”.

Video clips from theatres have also emerged showing fervent crowds during the screening of the film yelling violent slogans; “shoot the anti-nationals.” Reacting to one such video, a US based Kashmiri academic Mir juanaid said: “Anti-Kashmiri/anti-Muslim hate is the only commodity that sells in the Indian public market.”

The BJP-run Gujarat government, however, announced that the film screening in the state would be made tax free. Moreover, after the movie was released, Agnihotri, his actor wife Pallavi Josh and producer Abhishek Aggarwal met Prime Minister Modi who according to Abhishek had noble and appreciative words for the film.

In Karnataka, assembly speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri invited all MLAs to watch the movie at Mantri Mall on Tuesday.

The filmmakers have been accused of serving the rightwing agenda of the BJP and promoting hatred.

The account of the Kerala unit of the Congress ran a Twitter thread. It said that “terrorists targetted pandits” killing 399 of them between 1990-2007 while during the same period, as many as 15,000 “Muslims were killed by terrorists” in the conflict-hit region.

The account also claimed “Pandits left the valley en masse under the direction of Governor Jagmohan who was an RSS man. The migration started under the BJP-supported VP Singh government.” The claim sparked vehement reactions from rightwing accounts which accused the Congress of exonerating the militants.