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Congress in Kerala has approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) against the decision of Doordarshan to telecast the controversial movie ‘The Kerala Story’, saying it was a “tacit effort” to divide society on religious grounds to further the electoral prospects of the ruling BJP.
The decision of Doordarshan evoked strong protests from both the ruling CPI(M) and the opposition Congress in Kerala.
Doordarshan has announced that the movie will be broadcast on April 5. The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the ruling CPI(M) expressed strong protest on Friday against the decision to telecast the movie and said it would organise a protest march to the Doordarshan office in the state capital.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, V D Satheesan, sent a letter to the Election Commission today, seeking to direct Doordarshan to withdraw from its decision to telecast “the extremely malicious ‘The Kerala Story’ movie”.
“As you are aware, ‘The Kerala Story’ is a propaganda film based on extremely false promises and attempts to paint a bleak picture of the people of the state. I believe this is part of Sangh Parivar’s poisonous agenda to divide the country along communal lines,” Satheesan said in his letter.
He said the decision by the Central government to telecast the movie through Doordarshan before the Lok Sabha election was a tacit effort to divide society on religious grounds to further the electoral prospects of the ruling BJP.
“The decision of Doordarshan is a direct insult to the people of Kerala. It is also in violation of model poll conduct, which forbids any effort to divide society on religious lines,” the senior Congress leader said. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday condemned Doordarshan’s decision and asked the public broadcaster to withdraw from screening the controversial movie, saying it would only “exacerbate communal tensions” ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
On Doordarshan to broadcast the movie – ‘Kerala Story’, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor quoted by ANI said , “To be honest, it’s really shameful. When the Kerala Story came out, everyone pointed out that this was not the real Kerala story. Kerala is a state of social harmony and co-existence and not a state that is some sort of Pakistan that this movie wants to show. And yet, the lies of this film being officially circulated by an official broadcaster is truly disgusting, it’s propaganda at its cheapest and worst…”
