There are innumerable ways to examine any fact. It is the context that separates facts from knowledge. In this context – narratives that help us to combine facts – our limited human mind can understand them. It is also known as ‘propaganda’ if it is used in a deliberately misleading way to validate a biased goal. ‘The Kashmir Files’, directed by Bollywood director Vivek Agnihotri, has become one of the biggest propaganda campaigns of the Hindutva fascist era. The movie hit theaters on March 11. The film is said to tell the true story of Kashmiri Pandits who had to flee Kashmir in 1989-1990. Hindutva after the release of the film
The film received tremendous support from the centers. The BJP-ruled states have announced a complete tax cut for the film. The Madhya Pradesh government has given a day’s leave to the police to watch the film. The Assam government has allowed all government employees half a day off to watch movies. Chief Minister Himanta Bishwa Sharma has demanded that Muslims in the state be assured that Assam will not go one step further and turn it into Kashmir. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also made his debut for the film ‘The Kashmir Files’.
Modi campaigned on social media with the film, saying that the film should be seen by all and promoted. At the same time, it should be noted that the ‘fans’ got a rough idea about the film. Later, rumors about the events of the film began to circulate. Moviegoers chanted bigger Muslim genocide calls in theaters than at the Haridwar Dharma Sansad. The video of a Hindutva activist shouting, “Muslims are still racist in their homes and we must stop everything, even when we see this movie,” is still circulating on social media.
On the other hand, the propaganda that the film was a pioneer of anti-Muslim propaganda only intensified when the film received overwhelming support from Hindutva centers. The information that is coming out now validates that. Secular Kashmiri Pandits and others have come out against the film. Pandits say that those who are responsible for our miserable lives are now on the scene for the film as well.
No reality shit
It is safe to assume that Vivek Agnihotri, the director of ‘Kashmir Files’, knows more about the Kashmir exodus than he describes in his film. He is well aware that the facts are far beyond his film. We can see at a glance that the aim of the film is not to move the camera to the plight of Kashmiri Pandits. It can be seen very quickly that the film was used as an opportunity to express Agnihotri’s views. That view is not so simple.
That worldview is in line with the Hindu nationalists in power. It explains why many BJP-ruled states have made the film tax-free. It will not be difficult to understand why the Prime Minister publicly praised the film and denounced the ‘Jamaat’ of its critics. The film is currently being marketed by Hindutva forces for the largest market in India.
What is the worldview of the film?
The film says that all Muslims in the Kashmir Valley, all politicians, are all anti-Hindu by birth and conspired to ‘genocide’ Hindus. The film shows Farooq Abdullah as the Chief Minister seeing and collaborating with JKLF militants. According to his party, the National Conference, IAS Brahma Dutt (played by Emperor Mithun) was, in effect, a political front for extremists.
If the film is true, then why were the National Conference activists attacked and killed by terrorists? The film does not explain why Farooq Abdullah is collaborating with extremists who are slowly draining all his power and legitimacy. This ultimately led to his resignation.
As VN Narayan, editor of the Tribune, pointed out in 1989, Farooq Abdullah’s policy of dealing with the conflict in the Valley was, in fact, repression. He tried to trust the Central Reserve Police more than the state police. The police and the CRPF brought a treacherous calm. Arrests and detentions without charge increased. It is estimated that there are more militants in the state than are officially counted.
Similarly, the film portrays the extremists and separatists in Kashmir indiscriminately. He says there is no difference between the pro-independence JKLF and the pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen. In fact, there can be no political differences between extremists because they are not all driven by political grievances or ambitions. The film says that it is hatred towards Hindu infidels. Of course, in ‘The Kashmir Files’, Yasin Malik and Farooq Ahmed Dar are the main villains in the story.
The film portrays Kashmiri Muslims as a combination of hatred and animosity. The civilian people of Kashmir led the Kafir persecution. Ration of Kashmiri Hindu women Muslim women throw away. Muslims plunder the property of their Hindu neighbors and sell it to extremists. Their religious leaders are urging Kashmiri widows to give in to sexual urges. Their children are urging Pandit children to chant pro-Islam slogans. This is how the filming of the movie goes.
This is not Islamophobia, it is the reality of Kashmiri Muslims. Agnihotri might say that they are all traitors, aggressors, excessive sexists and fundamentalists. It is no coincidence that this is the standard Islamophobic depiction of a Muslim man in Hindu nationalist texts.
The big joke is that at the time of the Pandits’ departure, the then government was led by the BJP-backed VP Singh. This important fact is never mentioned in the film. The new narration is that Rajiv Gandhi did not help the Pandits and did not want to ruin his friendship with Farooq Abdullah. The film also says that secular politicians sold pandits to Kashmiri Muslims to appease them.
The film depicts all the Kashmir talks that took place during the Congress government as talks with the militants. It also speaks to the tough decisions that have been made, such as the removal of Article 370. Article 370 is very clearly related to the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. Anupam Kher’s main political demand throughout the second half of the film is to remove it. In fact, the Kashmiri exodus took place during the governor’s rule.
Urban Naxals
The term “urban Naxals” was used by Vivek Agnihotri. He has even written a book on the subject. The term was borrowed from him by Prime Minister Modi. Modi used the term to describe rebels and intellectuals in his election speeches. The Kashmir files portraying the Left as caricatures should be seen as very generous.
The leftists in this film despise everything about India. They are self-deprecating Hindus who love Muslims. They lure the protagonist to join their ranks until Mithun and his team of noble pundits rescue a brainwashed young Kashmiri Pandit. There was a very conscious reconstruction in this as well.
One could reasonably argue that the intellectual and political left did not give enough space to the Kashmiri Pandit. But their depiction here is more of a screen version of Agnihotri’s Twitter walk against the urban Naxals than it is about reality. Agnihotri spends most of her time filming on Hindutva ideas. His views on Kashmiri Muslims, secular politicians and Left intellectuals.
Instead of making the audience aware of the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, the film’s driving force is to demonize these sections which are part of the primary internal aims of the Hindu nationalist forces. The film does not say anything about the escape or survival of Kashmiri Pandits. If the subject is to be taken seriously, a new film must come out. This is not the movie. An exploitative tool that abuses the repression of Kashmiri Pandits to outlaw political statements that are offensive to the government and to reinforce pro-government statements. That’s it.
Theatrical experience for moviegoers
Azim Ali writes;
The film was seen last night in theaters in the national capital, where conversations were mixed with right-wing slogans and occasional applause. The biggest applause was for Anupam Kher’s demand that Article 370 be removed. At the end of the movie, the crowd erupted in protest from their seats. They hoisted Indian flags and chanted various horrific slogans. They chanted Jai Shri Ram and Har Har Mahadev and called for genocide against Muslims.
Many of them were RSS activists who pretended to be regular movie-goers. Outside the theater, another crowd chanted pro-RSS slogans. ‘Atom bomb, atom bomb, RSS atom bomb’. Some people who came to see the movie chanted slogans. RSS and Vivek Agnihotri are one in this movie. The film makes possible all the disturbances that Hindutva extremism wanted. Even the theaters have changed to the point where Hindutva extremists chanting slogans like ‘Religious fanaticism of the minority will never be tolerated in a way that explodes into brutal violence’. That’s what viral videos attest to.
‘Never again, never trust a Muslim, a secularist or the Left. Hindus in Bengal, Kerala or any other part of India should be told that Kashmiri Hindus are likely to be repeated. These are the words of the Hindutva spokespersons who saw the film. Hindutva fascism is exploiting all its possibilities in India to the fullest extent.