After filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri urged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to not ban his new movie 'The Bengal Files', Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh, on Wednesday, slammed him.
"There is no political pressure, if he thinks that nobody knows in Bengal what kinds of provocative movies the filmmakers are making, the hall owners, distributors take their own decision, if they decide not to show these movies, it is their decision, there is no politics in it," Ghosh said.
"Where was Vivek Agnihotri when Godhra riots happened, why didn't he make Gujarat Files, similarly, when Manipur was burning, why didn't he make Manipur Files?" he added, as quoted by news agency ANI.
"Theatre owners are telling me that even if it is not banned, they have so much political pressure that they will have to pay a high price to show it. And that's why they are afraid to show it. The workers of your party are also asking to ban this film. That's why I request you, to release this film in West Bengal peacefully," Agnihotri said early on Wednesday.
"You have taken an oath of the Indian Constitution and to protect the rights of every citizen, the free speech of the people of India. CBFC has passed this film, which is a constitutional body. That's why it is your constitutional duty to release this film in peace," he added.
Further speaking on the issue, he said, "India is the country that has been oppressed and enslaved for the longest time. For 1200 years, our culture, religion, identity, literature, art, architecture, were punished and destroyed. And there is a most horrific and painful chapter in it, of Bengal, where there was a Hindu genocide like Direct Action Day and Noakhali. And if that had not happened, then perhaps India would not have been divided. But all this was forgotten. Or maybe it was hidden."
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