Supporters of free speech now asking to ban Kerala Story: Anil Antony

The Kerala Story, a yet to be release film, is at the centre of a storm. A teaser for the film - released in November - was criticised for carrying inaccurate facts about the number of women, who might have been involved in these kinds of situations. 'The Kerala Story' - a Hindi movie that claims to unearth details of how 'approximately 32,000 women' who were allegedly radicalised, converted to Islam and deployed on terror missions across the country. The movie - decried by the CPIM as a movie “deliberately made with the aim of communal polarisation and to spread hate propaganda” - has been widely criticised. The Congress has been equally vehemently opposed to the movie; it called for bans on screening and said it was “full of lies and painted the Muslim community in bad light”.

BJP leader Anil Antony hit out at Kerala's ruling CPIM amid controversy over the movie. Antony claimed double standards by the CPIM; he said they had acted as 'supporters of free speech' in the row between the government and British broadcaster BBC but failed to defend free speech by criticising “The Kerala Story”. The Kerala Story' is highlighting some societal issues by taking the case of a few young girls and the trials and tribulations they faced, he tweeted.

#KeralaStory is highlighting some of the societal issues by taking the case of a few young girls and the trials and tribulations they faced. Irony dies a thousand deaths when both @INCKerala and @cpimspeak that were the so called supporters of free speech when a @BBCWorld… https://t.co/wAhNPQbqzJ

— Anil K Antony (@anilkantony) May 1, 2023

Amid the row, the director, producer and the actor have backed the movie, saying The Kerala Story targets terrorists, not Muslims and there is nothing against the state in the entire film.