Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 1 (IANS) As soon as the 71st National Film awards was announced in Delhi on Friday, there was a rare unity that surfaced in Kerala when both the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan slammed the decision of the jury to give the best director award to Sudipto Sen for the controversial film, ‘The Kerala story’.

Vijayan, in a statement while congratulating the winners from the Malayalam film industry for their respective national awards, took strong exception to the award given to the director Sen.

“The award for the film ‘Kerala Story’ is one to defame our state-Kerala as it’s a film filled with lies and one made to spread communal hatred. This is against the spirit of secularism and national integration, which was the hallmark of Indian cinema,” said Vijayan.

“By giving the award, it clearly shows that the agenda of Sangh Parivar is being upheld. We strongly register our protest, and every Keralaite and all those who believe in democracy have to raise their voice against this injustice,” added Vijayan.

Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, V. D. Satheesan, said that in no way will they accept the jury’s decision to give an award to a product which spreads communal venom.

“Those who are haunting and hunting the Christian community to implement the agenda of the Sangh Parivar and the BJP have now politicised even the Indian Cinema,” said Satheesan.

“These people are now trying to spread canards about Kerala to gain political mileage, but all such efforts will come to nought,” added Satheesan.

The plot of the controversial film follows a group of women from Kerala who are coerced into converting to Islam and joining the Islamic State.

Marketed as a true story, the film claims that thousands of Hindu women from Kerala have been converted to Islam and recruited to the Islamic State.

–IANS

sg/dan