Kashmir Files: Vulgar, Propagandist and Anti-Islam

by Dr. Aslam Abdullah

They would not make a fictional movie about millions of Dalits killed because of their perceived lower ranks in the Hindu religious hierarchy. They would not dare document the murder of over 100,000 Muslims in Jammu during the 1947 partition trauma. They would not even make a movie about the massacre of Sikhs in 1984 at the hands of Hindu extremists protected by the authorities. But, the upper castes of India would produce a fictional drama centered around the Kashmiri Hindu Pundits (upper caste Brahmans), allegedly leading to an imaginary genocide.

The film, supported by India’s Hindu fascists and upper castes, proved a commercial success. Promoted by the heirs of Hitler in India, the film received all the exemptions that a government can give its favorites.

The film was propaganda and aimed to mobilize Hindu sentiments against Islam, Muslims, and the majority population of Kashmir, disregarding all the facts. It ignored the ground reality and did not mention that India’s occupying forces, the RSS and its operative, allegedly killed over 100,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1947. Furthermore, it did not acknowledge the torture and imprisonment of Kashmiri youth by the Indian army in thousands. It refused to recognize the rape of Kashmiri women by the Hindu army and paramilitary officials. Yet, the Brahman backers and promoters were eager to make a movie about the Kashmiri Pundits’ exit that the ruling party allegedly engineered to garner support among its Hindu voters.

The Jury at the 53rd International Film Festival of India held in Goa in November 2022 acknowledged that, and filmmaker Nadav Lapid, speaking on their behalf, called it a vulgar and propaganda film unfit for representation at the competition section.

India’s fascists were angry at these comments. So they approached the Israeli government, whose ambassador distanced his country from them, and even apologized. But, of course, one cannot expect anything else from Israel that itself is an occupier denier of human rights to the original inhabitants of Palestine. Nevertheless, Lapid did not retreat from his comments and doubled down on his criticism.

BAFTA winner Jinko Gotoh, who was part of the five-member jury for the International Competition at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), made it clear later that she and two of her fellow jurors stand by the Nadav Lapid’s comments at the closing ceremony regarding The Kashmir Files (2022) being a “propaganda” movie. A joint statement signed off by jurors Pascale Chavance, Javier Angulo Barturen and Gotoh was posted on Twitter from her handle. Extending their support to Lapid, the post said: “We stand by his statement”.

What is clear is that India’s ruling elites comprising less than 5 percent Brahmans are behind most anti-Islam and anti-Muslim campaigns in India and abroad. They spread hatred through the temples they control and the RSS, run by them. They dream of a Greater India, destroying Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and going up to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and parts of China. It’s a group of people that believes in the supremacy of India’s Upper castes, whose origin they attribute to the mouth, chest, and abdomen of a deity. The Kashmiri Files was an attempt to win sympathy for this racist group responsible for the inhumanity of millions of people described as Shudras, Dalits, and untouchables.