An IAS officer in Madhya Pradesh has run into trouble with the state government over tweets calling on the makers of The Kashmir Files to also produce movies on the “killings of (a) large number of Muslims across several states”.
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Niyaz Khan, who is currently the deputy secretary in the state Public Works Department (PWD), tweeted last week, “Kashmir File shows the pain of Brahmins. They should be allowed to live safely in Kashmir with all honour. The producer must also make a movie to show the killings of large number of Muslims across several states…”
In another tweet on Sunday, the IAS officer congratulated the film’s producers on the movie touching the Rs 150-crore revenue mark, and said that since people had “given a lot of respect for Kashmiri Brahmins’ feelings” the film’s makers should “transfer all earnings to Brahmin children’s education” and build homes for them in Kashmir.
In response, The Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri asked Khan for an appointment in Bhopal on March 25. “We can meet and exchange ideas how we can help and how you can help with the royalty of your books and your power as an IAS officer,” Agnihotri tweeted on Sunday.
Khan, who is the author of eight books, has also said he is thinking about writing a book on the “massacre of Muslims on different occasions” so that the “suffering of minorities could be brought before Indians”.
Taking umbrage at the IAS officer’s comments, state Medical Education Minister Vishvas Sarang accused him of “firqa parasti (sectarianism)” and called for his removal from the PWD.
The minister told reporters that Khan violated the IAS service conduct rules by making the comments, and added that he would complain against him to the personnel department.
“He has no right…The way he has started issuing statements and started a Twitter war, this is against the service rules,” Sarang said.
The Madhya Pradesh government has made The Kashmir Files tax free, and given police personnel a day off work to watch the movie with their family. Last week, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan watched the movie at a special screening in Bhopal along with ministers in his government and BJP MLAs.
Vivek Agnihotri and actor Akshay Kumar are all set to attend the three-day Chitra Bharti Film Festival (CBFF) that begins on March 25 at the new campus of the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication.
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