Mamata Banerjee's politics of appeasement gone to absurd levels: Amit Malviya

Kolkata, Sep 4 (IANS) The BJP on Thursday criticised the Mamata Banerjee government for banning films, saying that it has become a regular feature in case the subject and plot of a movie do not suit the ruling party in the state.

BJP’s Information Technology Cell chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, on Thursday said this on his X handle while sharing a letter by 'The Bengal Files' producer Pallavi Joshi.

Pallavi Joshi has written an open letter to President Droupadi Murmu, seeking the latter’s intervention to ensure that the said movie can be released in West Bengal.

Malviya, in a social media post, had claimed that after Vivek Agnihotri’s (the director of the movie) open appeal to West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, for the release of 'The Bengal Files' in the state, producer Pallavi Joshi has now written an open letter to the President of India.

According to Malviya, this was not the first time that such blatant censorship has taken place in West Bengal.

“The Kerala Story too was denied release in theatres despite a court order, under threats of violence from the Mamata Banerjee administration. More recently, even an event featuring Javed Akhtar was cancelled after radical Islamist groups demanded it be stalled,” Malviya added.

The BJP leader also said that in this entire matter conspicuously missing were the self-proclaimed champions of free speech, who have conveniently chosen to look the other way this time.

“Mamata Banerjee’s politics of appeasement has gone to absurd levels. It’s like riding a tiger — she neither knows how to get off, nor how to control it, without being devoured,” Malviya added.

Since the beginning, controversy has shrouded 'The Bengal Files' with several FIRs registered at different police stations in the state against it. On August 4, Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta imposed an interim stay on the FIRs filed against the movie.

'The Bengal Files' is perceived to be the third part of the 'Files' trilogy, the first being 'The Tashkent Files' in 2019 and the second being 'The Kashmir Files' in 2022.

Previously, the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government had been accused of issuing gag orders against feature films on allegedly “flimsy” grounds.

--IANS

src/dpb