You want to make films to create hatred: Sitaram Yechury to BJP

The country cannot be saved if hatred and violence-based politics is not stopped, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Thursday while accusing the BJP of "raising only those issues which divide the people".

At a press conference, he referred to the film, 'The Kashmir Files', which has kicked up a political storm, and said movies that tend to create a divide cannot solve any problems but will create new ones.

"A film was made on Godhra and Gujarat riots -- 'Parzania'. But did you let it be screened? We can make films, but will you allow it to be shown? Or you want only those films which depict your ideology?" Yechury said.

He stressed that to really understand what happened when the Kashmiri Pandits left the Valley, to know the reality, the role of the then governor of Jammu and Kashmir should also be highlighted.

"Attacks took place on Sikhs and on Muslims as well. Why did not the Sikhs or others migrate? We need answers to those questions also. But you just want to make a film to create hatred. This will not solve any problems, but create new ones," he said.

He alleged that the BJP "does not talk about hunger or the condition of the people".

"The whole issue in the Uttar Pradesh elections was 80 per cent versus 20 per cent, or bulldozer at a public meeting, which was symbolic, or the prime minister talking about 'qabrastaan and shamshaan', or about jihad or dress code like Hijab.

"They raise emotive issues which divide the people of the country. The condition is such that the Editors Guild has issued a statement expressing concern over polarisation, saying it is dangerous," Yechury said.

The CPI(M) general secretary said that militant attacks on people, including his party's activists, happened even before 1990.

The SSP of Srinagar, in a reply to an RTI last year, had stated that 89 Kashmiri Pandits were killed in militancy-related incidents since 1990, while 1,635 people from other faiths were killed, he mentioned.

"This is the police saying and this is the truth. Why is it not coming forward? We have sympathy for the Kashmiri Pandits and have fought for their rights.

"But, if this politics based on hatred and violence is not stopped, then this country cannot be saved. And for that, the Constitution and constitutional institutions need to be saved," Yechury said.