Srinagar: The country cannot be saved if hatred and violence-based politics is not stopped, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Thursday while accusing the BJP of “raising only those issues which divide the people”.
At a press conference, he referred to the film, ‘The Kashmir Files’, which has kicked up a political storm, and said movies that tend to create a divide cannot solve any problems but will create new ones.
“A film was made on Godhra and Gujarat riots — ‘Parzania’. But did you let it be screened? We can make films, but will you allow it to be shown? Or you want only those films which depict your ideology?” Yechury said.
He stressed that to really understand what happened when the Kashmiri Pandits left the Valley, to know the reality, the role of the then governor of Jammu and Kashmir should also be highlighted.
“Attacks took place on Sikhs and on Muslims as well. Why did not the Sikhs or others migrate? We need answers to those questions also. But you just want to make a film to create hatred. This will not solve any problems, but create new ones,” he said.
He alleged that the BJP “does not talk about hunger or the condition of the people”.
“The whole issue in the Uttar Pradesh elections was 80 per cent versus 20 per cent, or bulldozer at a public meeting, which was symbolic, or the prime minister talking about ‘qabrastaan and shamshaan’, or about jihad or dress code like Hijab.
“They raise emotive issues which divide the people of the country. The condition is such that the Editors Guild has issued a statement expressing concern over polarisation, saying it is dangerous,” Yechury said. PTI

Press Trust of India