The Kashmir Files was supposed to bring into spotlight that underreported Kashmir riots of 1989 and 1991. At that time, Kashmiri Pandits were forcibly evicted from the Valley and many of them were hacked to death in the most macabre manner. However, ‘The Kashmir Files‘ is at the centre of political blame-game, with the Indian National Congress (INC) showing its outrage against the movie for portraying the unblemished truth. Now, if ‘The Kashmir Files’ can lead to an outrage like this. What would happen if a movie depicted the tragedy of anti-Sikh riots?
The outrage over The Kashmir Files
A deleted tweet by the Kerala unit of the Congress party argued that between 1990 and 2007, 15,000 Kashmiri Muslims were killed as against 399 Pandits. However, no statistical data about exodus of Kashmiri Pandits was mentioned in the tweet.
Read more: Kashmiri Pandits can now reclaim their lost land in Kashmir
The tweet was a part of a thread posted as ‘#KashmiriPandit issue’. Another tweet in the series stated that one lakh Muslims were killed in the erstwhile state during the 1948 communal riots, but no Pandits were killed in retaliation.
Jagmohan theory
And then, it also sought to shift the blame for the exodus to the BJP. It tweeted that “the migration suited the agenda of the BJP for the Hindu-Muslim division while carrying out the Ram Mandir issue in Ayodhya”.
There was also an attempt to resort to the Jagmohan theory. Another tweet by the Kerala Congress stated, “Pandits left the valley en masse under the direction of Governor Jagmohan who was an RSS man. The migration started under the BJP-supported VP Singh government.”
Some of the tweets were deleted later. The Kerala Congress stated, “We stand by every single fact in yesterday’s tweet thread about the #KashmiriPandits issue. However, we’ve removed a part of the thread, seeing BJP hate factory taking it out of context and using it for their communal propaganda.”
We stand by every single fact in yesterday's tweet thread about the #KashmiriPandits issue. However, we've removed a part of the thread, seeing BJP hate factory taking it out of context and using it for their communal propaganda.
We'll continue to speak out the truth. (1/3)
— Congress Kerala (@INCKerala) March 14, 2022
What if a movie is made on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots?
The Kashmiri Pandit exodus is undoubtedly one of the most horrific crimes against humanity till date.
However, a few years before the exodus, another such riots had happened. In Delhi, the National Capital of the country, riots had broken out after the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Groups of armed armed men targeted the Sikh community across Delhi, attacking their homes and shops. In one of the cases relating to the riots, the Delhi High Court pointed out, “There was an abject failure by the police to investigate the violence.”
Official government reports state that 2,800 Sikhs died in the riots. 20,000 victims had to flee Delhi and over one thousand got displaced. Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar, Lalit Makan and Dharam Das Shastri were some of the prime accused in the riots for instigating mobs.
Later, Delhi High Court convicted Sajjan Kumar and sentenced him to life imprisonment in a case relating to the murder of five Sikhs of a single family- Kehar Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Raghuvender Singh, Narender Pal Singh and Kuldeep Singh.
Justice has been delayed inordinately. It has been over 37 years since the riots broke out, but all the perpetrators haven’t been brought to justice. And the popular culture? Well, it never showcased the pogrom and we at least didn’t get a movie that showed in-depth events relating to the riots. Yet, given the outrage following The Kashmir Files, we can only imagine the kind of outrage that would follow The Delhi Files. If a film like ‘The Kashmir Files’ could give the left liberal ecosystem and the Congress a living nightmare, imagine the meltdown ‘The Delhi Files’ would make.