Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, joined the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) in condemning the screening of The Kerala Story, an anti-Muslim Indian film, in American theatres.
The film has been widely criticized for its reportedly bigoted depiction of Islam and Muslims and has also reportedly been endorsed by India’s ruling BJP, known for its far-right Hindutva extremism and Islamophobia. The Kerala Story is being screened in theaters in Maryland and Virginia, as well as elsewhere nationwide.
In a statement, CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“This film is yet another example of the hateful anti-Muslim propaganda that has been spread by India’s far-right Hindutva movement and used to justify real-world discrimination and violence against Indian Muslims. Just as mainstream American theaters should not and would not screen a blatantly racist film, they should not screen this blatantly anti-Muslim propaganda.”
He noted that last year, CAIR and its Houston chapter defended an Indian Muslim journalist subjected to threats for his criticism of a similar film, The Kashmir Files.
IAMC called the movie ‘fabricated hate-filled’.
“This is yet another completely fabricated hate-filled story to peddle Islamophobia after ‘The Kashmir Files’ fiction that disrupted social cohesion both in India and in our neighborhoods in the United States,” said Rasheed Ahmed, executive director of the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC).
