- By Aalok Sensharma
- Mon, 14 Mar 2022 11:12 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: The Kerala Congress on Sunday launched a staunching attack at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the Kashmir Pandits issue following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with the team of 'The Kashmir Files', including director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri and producer Abhishek Agarwal.
Sharing some "facts about Kashmiri Pandits issue", the Kerala Congress alleged that the mass exodus in the Kashmir Valley took place under Governor Jagmohan, who Congress claimed was a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) man.
In a series of Tweets, it said the migration started under the BJP-supported VP Singh government. It further alleged that the BJP asked the Kashmiri Pandits to relocate to Jammu after terror attacks against them in the Valley.
"A large number of Pandit families did not feel secure and left the valley in fear," the Kerala Congress tweeted. "BJP was engineering a Hindu-Muslim divide in the country over the Ram Mandir issue in Ayodhya during the migration. Pandits’ issue suited BJP's propaganda to create a fake outrage for electoral gain."
"BJP-supported VP Singh government came to power in December 1989. Pandits’ migration started the very next month, in January 1990. BJP did nothing and continued supporting VP Singh till November 1990," it added.
In one of the Tweets, the grand old party further claimed that over 1 lakh Kashmiri Muslims were killed in Jammu during the 1948 communal riots after the partition, but "there were no retaliatory killings of Pandits", adding that the community is a victim of terrorism.
"BJP, which sheds crocodile tears for Pandits, did not bring them back to Kashmir or resettle them despite being in power for two terms at the centre and one term in Kashmir," it tweeted.
"BJP lied about government support to displaced Pandit families and claimed credit for Congress government’s initiatives. UPA government gave jobs to 15,000 Pandits and recruited 6,000 Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir government," it noted.
Meanwhile, the BJP has said that Congress does not understand history. Reacting to Congress' allegations, BJP MP KJ Alphons said the grand old party has hugely distorted versions, adding that over 1.5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits were driven out on communal grounds.
"Congress and its allies created a situation in which the pandits couldn't live anymore; they were murdered, there was a genuine fear for their lives, so they left... things have improved dramatically after the revocation of Article 370," Alphons was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The saffron party has also demanded that the film should be made tax free in Maharashtra and Delhi. It should be noted that several states ruled by the BJP - including Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh - have declared the film tax free.
The Kashmir Files, written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri and produced by Zee Studios, depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir following systematic killings of people from the community by Pakistan-backed terrorists. It stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi among others.
