Minister for Culture Saji Cherian. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress have condemned the national award for Kerala Story, an allegedly Islamophobic movie, which purportedly broadcasts a negative depiction of Kerala as a fertile ground for radical Islamists to trick Hindu women into marriage for recruitment to the jihadist cause.
Culture Minister Saji Cherian termed the award the latest salvo in the socio-economic and cultural war the Sangh Parivar-backed Central Government has unleashed against secular and progressive Kerala.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre has strangulated Kerala financially. It has unleashed Governors to scuttle the autonomy of State-funded varsities to saffronise Kerala’s secular and progressive higher education system. Now the BJP has subverted the national film awards to malign Kerala,” he said.
Mr. Cherian said the BJP-ruled States gave tax breaks to the movie, which he stated claimed malevolently that thousands of Hindu women in Kerala fell prey to “Love Jihad.”
He said the Sangh Parivar had injected the phrase into Hindu majoritarian rhetoric to falsely accuse Muslim youth of tricking Hindu women into marriage for conversion to Islam and subsequent radicalisation to fill the ranks of Islamist fighters in Syria and Yemen.
Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal said forced conversion conspiracy theories propagated by the armada of Hindu rightwing groups have caused an uptick in attacks on minorities in BJP-ruled States.
“We saw in Chhattisgarh how the Bajrang Dal lynch mob ambushed two Kerala nuns on the false charge of spiriting out tribal women to Agra for conversion to Christianity. The BJP government in the State played second fiddle to the conspiracists. It arrested and incarcerated the nuns on charges of human trafficking,” Mr. Balagopal said.
Excise Minister M.B. Rajesh stated that the BJP had perverted the national film awards to demonise Kerala. He said the BJP had repeatedly leaned on the ill-made movie’s false and malicious narrative to sow communal divisions in the State.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (Organisation), K.C. Venugopal, MP, said the movie’s distorted messaging has helped Hindu rightwing groups to whip up hate against minorities in BJP-ruled States and sow communal divisions in Kerala. “The national award for the xenophobic movie is the BJP’s payback to secular Kerala for shutting the door on the Sangh Parivar,” he said.
Published – August 02, 2025 02:09 pm IST
