“This is challenge to constitutional values”: CPI (M) leader condemns Doordarshan’s decision to screen ‘The Kerala Story’

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], April 5 (ANI): The Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP AA Rahim on Friday condemned the Doordarshan’s decision to telecast “The Kerala Story” and asked the public broadcaster to withdraw from screening the controversial movie, saying the channel should not become the ‘center of hate propaganda to divide society’.

Addressing the media, the CPI (M) leader said that telecasting the film on Doordarshan is a “challenge to constitutional values”.

“I strongly condemn the screening of the hate film ‘Kerala Story’ by Doordarshan. Do not make Doordarshan a hate factory. Doordarshan should not become the centre of hate propaganda to divide society. This is a challenge to constitutional values. DYFI demands that Doordarshan to withdraw and stop the decision to screen this film. The ‘Kerala story’ is a story boycotted by the Malayalis,” AA Rahim said.

Doordarshan has announced that the movie will be broadcast on April 5.

The movie’s trailer was severely criticised and challenged before the court for claiming that 32,000 women from Kerala got converted and radicalised and were deployed in terror missions both in India and the world.

‘The Kerala Story’ was under the scanner ever since the trailer was released. The film’s trailer had claimed that 32,000 women went missing from Kerala, but many had objected to the estimated figures. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had labelled it a ‘distorted story’, and also imposed a ban on the film in the state, which was lifted after the Supreme Court asked the state government to remove the ban on the screening of the film.

The Kerala High Court had last year refused to stay the release of the film, stating that the movie trailer does not contain anything offensive to any particular community as a whole.

The court had said that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had examined the movie and found that it was suitable for public exhibition.

On Thursday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also condemned Doordarshan’s decision to telecast “The Kerala Story” and said that it would only “exacerbate communal tensions” ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

“The decision by @DDNational to broadcast the film ‘Kerala Story’, which incites polarisation, is highly condemnable. The national news broadcaster should not become a propaganda machine of the BJP-RSS combine and withdraw from screening a film that only seeks to exacerbate communal tensions ahead of the general elections,” the Kerala CM posted on X.

“Kerala will remain steadfast in opposing such malicious attempts to sow hatred,” Vijayan added.