After BJP ruled several states declared filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri’s ‘The Kashmir Files’ tax-free, former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha sarcastically asked BJP government that it should pass a law in the Parliament making the movie’s viewing mandatory as declaring it only tax-free is not enough.
BJP ruled states including Gujarat, Goa, Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Haryana have already made the movie tax free.
The film, which is based on the alleged exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir in the 1990s, hit the theatres on March 11 and has received adulation and criticism in equal measure.
Yashwant Sinha took to social media and tweeted: “It is not enough to make the film The Kashmir Files tax-free all over India. Parliament should pass a law making its viewing compulsory for all Indians. Those who fail to watch it should go to jail for 2 years and those criticizing it for life.”
Earlier, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had rejected the demand of BJP legislators to make “The Kashmir Files” tax-free in Maharahtra, saying if the Centre waives GST on the movie, it will apply to the entire country. (KNT)