“Public figures” no longer different between exchange of ideas and sharp words. In ‘new’ India, debate has descended to mud-slinging, slur and abuse. Hence.making Islamophobic comments while promoting stereotypes against a minority community fits well with this trend for favoured fim-maker of the New Delhi regime, Vivek Agnihotri.

Not so far back, Vivek Agnihotri used a public platform to stigmatise Muslims, again.

A few days ago, Vivek Agnihotri’s had posted the news that his film, alleged by many to reflect one-sided propaganda. The Kashmir Files, had won the Best Film Award at the Dada Saheb Phalke Award 2023. He had added that he dedicates this award to “all the victims of terrorism, and to all the people of India for your blessings.”

Since the release of The Kashmir Files on March 11, 2022, while right wing supporters and audiences had cheered the release, others –including Kashmiri Pandit organization Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh samite (KPSS) had sharply criticised the movie for exaggerating facts, sparking undue controversy, and show-casing all Muslim Kashmiris in a bad light. Eyebrows were raised therefore when Agnihotri tweeted the news that his movie was awarded the coveted Dada Sahab Phalke award.

Mohammed Zubair, from the of the fact checking website, Alt News then tweeted a fact-check on the same and clarified that Agnihotri’s tweet regarding winning the prestigious government award was misleading as his movie had won an award at a festival named after Phalke, and not theprestigious DadaSaheb Phalke award.

Md. Zubair had also tweeted a picture of a post put up by Agnihotri, wherein he had said that Fact checking is the biggest media extortion, and is run by terror organisations. Referring to this same, MD. Zubair had captioned his tweet as “this is Mr. Vivek Agnihotri hates fact checkers.”

Another fact checking site had also posted a similar clarification about the film and the award!

Offended by the tweets mentioned above, Vivek Agnihotri then tweeted “No, my dear… I don’t hate fact-checkers, I hate when puncture repairers pretend to be fact checkers. Because you are nothing but just a jehadi pimp of India’s enemies & I know very well who is behind you. हरज़िहादीकावक़्तआताहैऔरतेरावक़्तजल्दीआनेवालाहै, संभलकेरहो” (The time for every ‘Jehadi’ comes, and your time is coming soon, be careful.)

The term ‘Puncture Repairers’ is a derogatory term used for the Muslim Community, used in order to depict that most of the Muslims are illiterates and thus, open their puncture repair shops. The term ‘jehadi’ is used by the right wingers too loosely nowadays, with the aim of projecting them as an enemy of the nation.

To this, Zubair had replied by tweeting “Words like “Jihadi” or “Puncture wala” against Muslims were earlier used by faceless Right Wing trolls. It is now openly being used by Verified trolls like Agnihotri.” Through this tweet, Zubair had brought forth the sense of impunity that is present in people backed up the Right wing, so much so that they are now openly using terms that are derogatory to a minority community. But, even this did not deter Vivek Agnihotri from riding the communal high horse, and he further posted a picture of a Puncture repair shop whose owner name was also written ad Mohammed Zubair. He had captioned the tweet as “please fact-check this.” To this, Zubair tweeted that “Most of your fake and communally misleading claims are punctured here.”

While Zubair’s reply might appear amusing to some, owing to the thick-skin he has had to develop in order to be able to do his work, this incident brings out how people now have no sense of fear before openly saying derogatory words on public platforms. Demeaning language is now used by leaders and faces of the Right wing, with no fear of any consequence or backlash.

The right-wing Hindu nationalist, read supremacists group openly espouse a violent sentiment toward liberals and minorities – including India’s 200 million Muslims, who make up 15% of the country’s 1.3 billion population. Even though India prohibits hate speech under several sections of its penal code, including a section which criminalises “deliberate and malicious acts” intended to insult religious beliefs, the government’s silence has only emboldened these the supports of the Right Wing further.

On the one hand, the members and supporters of the Right Wing are being given a free hand at “expressing” their beliefs and opinions, most of which are targeted against the gender, religious and caste minorities, people protesting against the Government or support Left inclined ideology are illegally jailed or their words banned.

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The post In his Twitter exchange with a journalist, Vivek Agnihotri makes Islamophobic remarks about Muslims appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Kashmir Files and its Director Vivek Agnihotri continue to draw attention with right-wing extremists hailing the movie as an exposure of an allegedly “hidden truth”. On March 11, 2022, Agnihotri even went so far as to claim that 4,000 Kashmiri Hindus were allegedly killed during the Kashmir insurgency. However, it is worth questioning where the Director found this data considering neither official nor unofficial data nor the two combined confirm such a big figure in thousands.

An RTI report doing the rounds on social media states how 89 Kashmiri Hindus (Kashmiri Pandits) and 1,635 people of other faiths were killed by terrorist attacks since militancy inception in 1990. The RTI was filed by an activist P. P. Kapoor on November 27, 2021, months before the movie was released.

The document was used and posted by media houses, including the Times of India, to question the overwhelming killings implied in Kashmir Files. Kapoor has since switched off the phone number mentioned in the document.

On the other hand, media channels like India Today said that the report only provides half the information because the information is gathered from 1990 and does not account for the killings in 1989. It cited an Indian Express report from 2008 that estimated 209 killings, 100 of which occurred in 1989. This is closer to the 2011 data provided by the state government that estimated 219 deaths.

Similarly, a Kashmiri Pandit organisation Kashmir Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS) stated in the same year that at least 399 Pandits have been killed since 1990, with 75 percent of the people killed in the first year alone. The then incomplete survey estimated the deaths to rise to 650 deaths.

Yet all of this still falls far short of the mammoth 4,000 deaths figure announced by Agnihotri. In fact, according to the Economic Times, KPSS President Sanjay Tickoo categorically refuted claims of 3,000-4,000 Pandit deaths since 1990 as propaganda. The highest number claimed by anyone after the incident was by an RSS-publication in 1991 and even that number only rose to 600 deaths.

Following the release of the movie, the KPSS tweeted, “Kashmir files makes resident Kashmiri pandits feel unsafe.” This hinted concerns that the movie will amplify the communal sentiments rampant in India nowadays. Accordingly, there were viral videos of people entering theatre halls and decrying the Muslim community.

It is in this background that Agnihotri chose to cite a death figure that is likely to garner a strong response. Quoted retweets of Agnihotri’s tweet with the ‘4,000’ figure indicates the same.

Meanwhile, the few voices speaking for the survivors of the incident are struggling to maintain the communal harmony in the valley. Some netizens even called out the Director for his fabricated numbers.

Every kashmiri Muslim is not terrorist every Kashmiri pandit is not communal we both respect, love and share our pain which every kashmiri has gone through last 32 years

— KPSS (@KPSSamiti) March 16, 2022

Where from have got this https://t.co/Si3Ei3c6xm are pedalling https://t.co/NMx0KajDv0 per Kasmir Pandit Sangarash Samiti,399 Hindus were killed. However nobody endorses the killing of innocent people belonging to any faith. https://t.co/tp7c2eDMUB

— zahoor ahmad shah (@zashah62) March 12, 2022

Related:

The Kashmir Files: Calls for Muslim genocide ring out in cinema halls, hate brews outside

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The post Kashmir Files: Agnihotri cites exaggerated figures of 4,000 Kashmiri Pandit deaths appeared first on SabrangIndia.