Stating that "Chhattisgarh has become a dictatorial state", Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Brijmohan Agarwal alleged that the Congress-led state government is stopping the people from watching the film "The Kashmir Files" by threatening the theatre owners to take it down.
Agarwal said that the film is only being showcased in three theatres across the state and that those theatre owners are being threatened to take it down. Moreover, Agarwal also said that the tickets are not being sold and a 'house-full' is being put-up so that the people are not able to watch the film.
He added that it is the right of the people of the country to be aware of the 'truth of Kashmir.' He asked, "If the ruling party (Congress) in Chhattisgarh was anti-national or pro-nation?"
The senior BJP leader said, "Chhattisgarh has become a dictatorial state where the journalists are being arrested and the freedom of expression is being killed."
He further said, "The film shows how Kashmir was divided and Congress is responsible for it. Lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave their homes, the women were ill-treated, the removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and how some students of JNU are spreading anti-national messages which are creating an anti-national environment in the country and Congress is unable to tolerate all this hence they are trying to stop the people from watching the film."
Reacting to the BJP leader's remarks, the state Congress Spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla said, "Brijmohan Agarwal is lying and there are no restrictions of any kind imposed on the movie by our government."
"The movie is running in the theatres and the people are free to watch it at their will. In fact, we want the people to go and watch the movie and understand that the situation arose in the country when VP Singh was the Prime minister and that BJP was in support of him," said Shukla.
Shukla added, "The Governor of Jammu and Kashmir during that time was a BJP leader and the state was under the President's rule which means the BJP was indirectly ruling the state."
( With inputs from ANI )
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