NEW DELHI: Reiterating its demand of making “The Kashmir Files” available on YouTube for free, the AAP government on Monday pitched for using the money earned from the movie for the welfare of Kashmiri Pandits displaced from Kashmir in the early 1990s.
“I have not been able to watch the film as I was busy with the Delhi budget… It’s fine that a film has been made on the suffering of the Kashmiri Pandit community, and it should be seen by everyone. But their pain should be felt by other people, and not be sold in crores,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said in the assembly.
Sisodia said the Rs 200 crore earned from the movie should either be put into a new welfare foundation or existing foundations working for the community. BJP has demanded that the film should be made tax-free in the national capital.
“This Rs 200 crore should be used for the welfare of Kashmiri Pandits, those who had to leave their home in 1989-90. In fact, a new foundation in their name should be made and this money should be offered to it. Or, many such foundations already exist, so a little more money should be added to it and given to them, so that it can be used to rebuild their burnt homes, rejuvenate their faded orchards,” Sisodia said.
BJP legislator Vijender Gupta, meanwhile, demanded that chief minister Arvind Kejriwal apologise for his “insensitive” remarks made against the community in the House last Thursday. He also tried to bring a motion condemning Kejriwal, which was not allowed by the speaker. Gupta was marshalled out of the House.
Sisodia alleged that BJP was making crores out of the agony of Kashmiri Pandits, but had done little for their rehabilitation. “BJP has spent 32 years playing politics over Kashmiri lives and is now promoting “The Kashmir Files”. The party has been in power at the Centre and Kashmir for eight years, why have they not helped Kashmiri Pandits? It is the Kejriwal government that gave permanent jobs to 233 Kashmiri teachers and pays Rs 3,250 per month to the victims of the exodus,” he said.
Gupta claimed that by calling the film on the agony of Kashmiri Pandits a “lie”, Kejirwal had hurt their sentiments. The Kashmiri Hindu teachers were regularised only after Delhi High Court intervened, the Rohini MLA said, alleged that Kejriwal was not making the movie tax-free as it “creates awareness on the Kashmiri Hindu genocide”.
