Guwahati: Singapore has banned the controversial Indian movie ‘The Kashmir Files’, for its provocative and one-sided portrayal of Muslims.
The Singaporean authorities refused the classification of the Hindi-language film for “its provocative and one-sided portrayal of Muslims and the depictions of Hindus being persecuted in the on-going conflict in Kashmir,” CNA reported.
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‘The Kashmir Files’, being screened in India since March to mixed reviews, is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Muslim-majority Valley in the 1990s due to terrorism.
A joint statement was issued in Singapore by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The film’s representations “have the potential to cause enmity between different communities, and disrupt social cohesion and religious harmony in our multiracial and multi-religious society,” they said.
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Under the film classification guidelines, “any material that is denigrating to racial or religious communities in Singapore” will be refused classification.
Congress MP Sashi Tharoor took to Twitter to share an article talking about the ban and wrote, “Film promoted by India’s ruling party, #KashmirFiles, banned in Singapore.”
Soon after Tharoor’s tweet, director Vivek AgnihotriAgnihotri tweeted and called Singapore the ‘most regressive censor in the world’. He wrote, “Dear fopdoodle, gnashnab @ShashiTharoor, FYI, Singapore is most regressive censor in the world.”