Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi on Sunday said that Kashmiri Pandits must get the minority status in Kashmir.
Modi said the Central government has filled an affidavit in the Supreme Court that if any state government would like to award minority status to any community in the state, it must be allowed. However, he said, the apex court's decision on the affidavit is still awaited.
Citing the demographic population of northeast, Modi said that over 80 per cent population is Christian in the region and Hindu population is only 10 per cent. "In such cases, how Christians can be called minority there, Hindus are in minority there," said Sushil Modi.
Modi made the remarks while speaking at an event 'The Kashmir Files in Distant Lands and Now Beyond' held by the Global Kashmiri Pandits Diaspora where four International Chapter Heads of the diaspora shared their thoughts on the film -- 'The Kashmir Files' in their countries.
Modi that he will raise this demand of "giving Kashmiri Pandits the minority status in Kashmir and declaring them as victims of genocide".
He said that the government must also come with a White Paper to document all those episodes of atrocities that happened with the Kashmiri Pandits.
"This diaspora should do the first work of documenting all the atrocities to narrate the stories of genocide to the coming generation. Otherwise, no one will know this incident after 15 to 20 years later. However, film director Vivek Agnihotri has already documented much of that for the film," said Modi.
He also said that over a dozen films have been made on Kashmir, but not a single line has been mentioned in those films about the pangs of Kashmiri Pandits. "Instead, they tried to justify the terrorism in Kashmir," he said.
"This land has been the origin of India's cultural conscience," Modi said.
He also said that the credit of reaching the film "The Kashmir Files" to every household of the country goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"For the first time, he mentioned about this film in the BJP Parliamentary meeting and said it has rattled to the entire ecosystem which claims to be the torchbearer of freedom of expression but does not want truth to be told," said Sushil Modi.
--IANS
avr/pgh
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU