‘The Kerala Story producer should be hanged in public’: NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad's shocking statement on Vipul Shah

The Nationalist Congress Party leader Jitendra Awhad has stroked controversy by saying that The Kerala Story producer Vipul Shah should be ‘hanged in public’ as the film ‘tarnishes’ the image of the state and ‘insults’ the women there. The recently-released film has been at the centre of controversy for weeks now owing to accustaions of it peddling propaganda.

The Kerala Story, directed by Sudipto Sen, tells the story of three women from Kerala, who are brainwashed and converted to Islam by terror group ISIS. The film’s claim that it is based on true stories and that 32,000 women from Kerala have undergone religious conversion in the last few years have been called out as inaccurate.

Recently, while appearing in a debate on the film on TV9 Marathi, Jitendra Awhad said about the makers, “They have not only tarnished the image of Kerala but have also insulted the women of the state. They had said 32,000 women from Kerala had gone missing and joined the terrorist group ISIS, but the real figure is three. The film is peddling fiction and the producer should be hanged in public.”

Awhad, an MLA from Mumbra-Kalwa and former Maharashtra minister, later shared the video from the debate on Twitter and further attacked the film’s makers. He wrote in Marathi, “In other words, what if you want to defame your female sisters? To show that our female sisters are stupid and act like they don't understand anything and ultimately to portray women as subordinate in a male dominated culture. This is the real truth of the movie based on Kerala. Such films are made with the calculation of creating violence, hatred on the basis of lies and winning elections through the same.”

Starring Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani, and Sonia Balani, opened to mixed reviews when it released last Friday. However, it has done well at the box office, crossing Rs 50 crore in just five days. The film has been endorsed by PM Narendra Modi and been declared tax free in UP and MP. Conversely, it has been banned by the West Bengal government.