"BJP Making Lies Tax-Free": Brinda Karat On UP's Move On 'The Kerala Story'

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Senior Leader and Politburo Member Brinda Karat hit out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for his Tuesday's announcement of making 'The Kerala Story' film tax-free in the state, and accused the ruling BJP government of making the 'lies' tax-free.

Speaking to ANI, Ms Karat said, "Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has made the film 'The Kerala Story' tax-free in the state. The government of Madhya Pradesh has also made the film tax-free, which means that 'The Kerala Story' is based on lies, and the BJP is making those lies tax-free."

"For example, the film's trailer first claimed that the story of the film was about 32,000 women. When issued with a notice, they suddenly dropped the count and came to the figure of only 3", she added.

Ms Karat further told ANI that the entire film is based on political propaganda. "A political agenda is behind the film, which is why BJP is making it tax-free. This is BJP's politics, they want to make lies tax-free, they will attack those who tell the truth so we can say that the BJP government wants to make every lie tax-free", she said.

The Uttar Pradesh government announced on Tuesday morning that the film 'The Kerala Story' will be made "tax-free" in the state.

"The Kerala Story will be made tax-free in Uttar Pradesh," UP Chief Minister Yogi said in a tweet.

The move by the UP Government to make 'The Kerala Story' tax-free comes a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered a ban on the film in the state, citing a threat to law and order.

Earlier, the Madhya Pradesh government had made the film tax-free in MP. Announcing the decision, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the film "exposes the conspiracy of Love Jihad, religious conversion, and terrorism."

'The Kerala Story', produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah and directed by Sudipto Sen, sparked a row soon after its trailer was released last month.

'The Kerala Story' stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani in the lead roles. The movie hit theaters on May 5 after the Kerala High Court refused to issue a stay order on the release of the film.

The trailer of Sen's film 'The Kerala Story' came under fire as it claimed that 32,000 girls from the state went missing and later joined the terrorist group, ISIS. Faced with backlash the makers then withdrew the figure and called the movie the story of three women from Kerala, in its trailer description.

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