Bengal bans ‘The Kerala Story’ movie, CM asks officials to get it removed from screens

New Delhi: Amid the flurry of political reactions & raging debate over ‘The Kerala Story’, the West Bengal government on Monday declared a ban on the movie. The film theatres & multiplexes in the state will soon be directed to stop screening the movie.

The decision to ban The Kerala Story was announced by Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee at state secretariat. She directed the Chief Secretary to get the movie removed from all screens in the state.

“This is to avoid any incident of hatred & violence and also to ensure peace in the state,” CM Mamata said.

What is “The Kashmir Files”? it is to humiliate one section. What is “The Kerala Story”?… It is a distorted story: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee pic.twitter.com/yRFwhlumum

— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2023

While announcing the ban, the Chief Minister also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and accused it of ‘building & fanning communal tension’ by promoting films like The Kashmir Files, The Kerala Story. She also alleged that the BJP was “funding a film on Bengal on the lines of The Kashmir Files”.

The move comes a day after the screenings of film were cancelled from theatres & multiplexes in Tamil Nadu.

The Kerala Story made tax-free in MP

Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, a couple of days ago, declared that the movie has been made tax-free. Similar steps could be taken in Uttar Pradesh, if such proposal comes, said UP Deputy CM Brijesh Pathak.

Kerala CM slammed Kerala Story

Previously, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan tore into the filmmakers and said that it was the propaganda & agenda of Sangh Parivar to bring bad name to the state by touting it as a center of religious extremism.

The movie starring Adah Sharma shows a couple of Hindu & Christian girls targeted by radical Muslim clerics, converted to Islam and then sent to countries like Yemen & Syria to ‘fight for the cause of Islam.’