Arvind Kejriwal feels that the BJP stance on The Kashmir Files is an insult to the Kashmiri Pundits
The Kashmir Files, a film made by Vivek Agnihotri, seems to launched the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into elation mode. It is as if the saffron party has got its chance to arm itself with something that has been in the minds of its leaders for long. For the BJP leaders, the film is the voice lend to the Kashmiri Pundits who had been forced to leave Kashmir years ago.
But then why is the BJP so concerned about the Kashmiri Pundits who had to leave their homes so many decades ago? The party has been in power for so long and did it need a film to open its eyes on the Kashmiri Pundits problem? These are questions that are asked on one side of the divide the film has created. On the other side are the saffron units, holding forth their love and concern for the Pundits and they believe the flick has come as major tribute to the Indian citizens who were handed a raw deal.
So with the divide now a matter of serious discussion across social media and other platforms – both virtual and physical platforms – Vivek Agnihotri’s film is hogging all the saffron love, limelight, tax concessions and more. It has come to an extent where the BJP and its saffron-robed cousins have now taken it up as an agenda to promote the film by asking all like-minded Indians to buy tax free tickets and watch the film so that Kashmiri Pundits know that fellow Indians love them.
The Kashmir Files: What Kejriwal has to say
Ask Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister what he thinks about all these, and he has a perfect answer. Going by a media report that quotes him on this, he has said: “Over thirty years have passed since the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. These people were thrown out of their own homes. Many people died. After 32 years, if the ruling party tells them we have made a film for you, please watch it, can there be a bigger insult than this?”
He does, of course, have a point there, doesn’t he? For, the BJP has been in power at the Centre for the past eight years, and why that all-powerful government had not thought about rehabilitating the Kashmiri Pandits, and why it needed a film on them for the government to talk about their sufferings are questions any liberal minded citizen in this country would love to have an answer for!
Kashmiri Pandits want rehabilitation, not a movie
Kejriwal, for the record, has been slammed for not making Delhi a tax free haven for The Kashmir Files. He being the Chief Minister of Delhi doesn’t feel like doing what BJP ruled states did. As he has been heard saying, for him, the film is not important as it is for the BJP. He has also stated that Kashmiri Pandits want rehabilitation, and not a movie. And when that rehabilitation hasn’t been even thought or discussed about by the Union government in power for the past eight-year period, the saffron way of thinking stands exposed.
According to the Delhi CM, after being in power for eight years, they have made a film about it and people are making crores off of it. This is nothing to be proud of, he added.
Going by Kejriwal’s track record, it needs to be acknowledged that the AAP government had already offered permanent employment to Kashmiri Pandits who were working as contractual teachers in Delhi’s state-run schools. This is something no BJP government hasn’t even thought about. As he has been quoted saying, it is the responsibility of the central government to rehabilitate them instead of making films and making crores off of them. What is your take on this?