Hate campaign: CM Vijayan on ‘Kerala Story 2’ trailer

KErala chief government minister Pinarayi Vijayan on th criticised the house trailer set in motion of ‘The Kerala Story 2’, a subsequence to its earlier part about a fictitious tale of three young women from Kerala being forced to join a terrorist outfit, warning the public about the intentions behind the film. The chief minister said the film had “anti-Kerala propaganda” and exhorted the public to reject the film. The Bharatiya Janata Party responded by flagging the filmmakers’ right to freedom of speech and expression.“Our state had understood that the first part of the film, filled with unfathomable lies, hatred and anti-Kerala propaganda, was made with communal motives. In fact, the people had rejected that distorted creation of art by spreading ‘the real Kerala story.’ The people who are behind such continuous hate campaigns are those who fear Kerala’s example of brotherhood and secularism,” the chief minister said on a social media post.He alleged that even consensual marriages are portrayed by such forces using the colour of communalism and forced conversions. “They view Kerala, a state with no communal riots and where people of all faiths coexist with mutual respect, with hostility. They are trying to poison the peace and tranquility of our state. They are our real enemies,” he stated, exhorting the public to reject such films.The Congress also echoed the chief minister’s words. “They are fabricating false stories with no connection to reality and they are deliberately spreading misunderstandings about Kerala, a land of harmony and friendship,” Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal said.“In the first part, they spread the lie that 32,000 women were tricked through alleged love jihad. This time, there are scenes where a person is forced to consume beef. It is clear that they are trying to hurt religious sentiments and sow hatred,” he added.The plot of ‘The Kerala Story 2’, scheduled to release on February 27, according to its director Kamakhya Narayan Singh, was not specific to Kerala, but rather explores themes such as forced religious conversions and the so-called theory of ‘love jihad’ at the national level. According to the director, the film has been inspired by ‘15-20 incidents’ across India and tries to tell the truth behind forced conversions to the larger society.Responding to the criticism, BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar argued that there are courts and censor boards available to tackle any controversial content in films. He alleged that the LDF government and the chief minister are displaying hypocrisy over the right to freedom of speech and expression.“If anyone doesn’t like ‘The Kerala Story’, they are free to not watch it. Those who want to watch can go ahead. Why should the chief minister decide which film I should watch?...(if there are issues in the film), anyone can file a case against it in court. There are censor boards here,” he said.