'The Kerala Story' - another 'propaganda' film to incite hatred against Muslims

'The Kerala Story' has recently been hitting the headlines for being the second film within a year to alienate Indian Muslims. The film, directed by Sudipto Sen, claims to portray the story of 32,000 women in Kerala who ISIS took hostage as victims of 'Love Jihad.' 

The film, however, has been widely debunked as one of the most unrealistic pieces of Hindutva propaganda, with the number of women being abducted being so grossly exaggerated that the film director had to deduct that part from the teaser.

The Indian state of Kerala houses a large number of Muslims, and the state has been a constant target of the ruling party of India, which has Hindutva as its main ideology because they have failed to make inroads in the state despite multiple attempts.

Hence, there have been constant smear campaigns in the state to disrupt the persistent communal harmony of the state. The movie depicts the lives of a few young Hindu women who are friends with some Muslim women.

It is being shown that the Muslim friends constantly belittle Hindu gods, and whenever there is some inconvenience in the lives of these Hindu women, they try to brainwash them by saying that these things are just happening in their lives because they do not know the one, true God. 

The narrative is quite similar to what the right-wingers think about the role of Muslim women in Jihad and, therefore, far from reality.

Later, it is shown that the Hindu women fall for their propaganda and marry Muslim men, which, through a series of events, land them in Syria and Iraq. It is also shown that the men are involved with ISIS, and their goal was to entrap these Hindu women for Jihad.

Love Jihad has been a popular narrative in the Indian mass media for quite some time now. And it has been constantly utilised by the ruling party to alienate Muslims and incite the majority's hatred against them. 

And they have largely succeeded in their mission, which can be seen through social media. However, the entire scenario is extremely alarming, as films can work as the most powerful propaganda weapon.

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