The attempt to equate the minority Muslim community to its extremist fringe is not new, of course, but it is even more flimsy today than it used to be. Going by facts alone, several studies have noted the insignificant presence of Indian Muslims in pan-Islamic terror groups like al Qaeda and ISIS.
In a country where freedom of expression is weakly instituted, Mamata Banerjee’s decision lends credence to acts of state censorship from the other side of the political fence
By: Editorial
May 11, 2023 06:23 IST
There is nothing subtle about the promotion of Sudipto Sen’s film The Kerala Story by the powers that be, for reasons that are less than edifying. The film, which claims it is “uncovering the truth that was kept hidden”, through a story of young Hindu and Christian women in Kerala converted to Islam and seduced and indoctrinated by agents of the terror group, ISIS, has been given tax-free status by BJP-ruled states. BJP ministers and leaders have put out public testimonials, with no less than the Prime Minister endorsing the film’s message in an election rally in Karnataka. Like last year’s The Kashmir Files, The Kerala Story has invited questions about the precarious thinning of lines between cinema and propaganda, and about the predatory use of victims’ stories to purvey caricatures of a community. It has raised questions, too, about the essential purpose behind the art of framing and telling a story. Is it to lash out, inflame and polarise? Or to suggest, if not prise open, spaces of greater empathy and understanding, perhaps redemption and reconciliation? The official backing to The Kashmir Files then, and The Kerala Story now, underlines those questions. Because a diverse democracy is built on, and it promises to enable dialogue between communities as they change and argue and evolve, not their cornering and labelling.
The attempt to equate the minority Muslim community to its extremist fringe is not new, of course, but it is even more flimsy today than it used to be. Going by facts alone, several studies have noted the insignificant presence of Indian Muslims in pan-Islamic terror groups like al Qaeda and ISIS. Within the country, the Muslim minority may be increasingly at the receiving end of a politics that denies it adequate voice and representation, but its stakes in public and political spaces run deep. Like all sections of society, especially minorities of all hues, they find in the nation’s democratic institutions and processes, their calling cards of equality and opportunity. Almost ten years in power, the BJP’s political project is arguably built on the consolidation of the majority by the exclusion and other-isation of the minority. But it is also true that for the party to grow, it must soften the lines, even if strategically. And that, constitutionally, in government, it must address all, both majority and minority. The Modi government has, in fact, made “sabka saath … sabka vishwas” its slogan and statement, and it holds aloft its progressive measures like the outlawing of triple talaq.
And yet, even for a film that blatantly promotes conspiracy theories, and does grave injustice to complex and layered realities, a ban is no solution. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision to ban The Kerala Story needs to be strongly opposed. In a country where freedom of expression is weakly instituted, Banerjee’s decision lends credence to acts of state censorship from the other side of the political fence. It’s also counter-productive when the Opposition is framed as “pro-minority” at the expense of the “majority”. The Kerala Story needs to be challenged — but it can be done best by telling other Kerala, other India stories, more encompassing and more accurate.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd