Half-day leave for Assam staff watch the movie - The Kashmir Files

Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, has announced a half-day special leave for all government employees in his state who want to see Vivek Agnihotri's new film The Kashmir Files. Government personnel will simply need to notify their senior officers and submit the tickets the next day to take advantage of this extraordinary leave.

The Kashmir Files, which was released on March 11, is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus during the Kashmir insurgency in 1990. The film stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumaar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi. The film has smashed all records at the box office in its first week.  The film tells the true story of brutal sufferings endured by Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, during the Kashmir insurgency. It is a true story, based on video interviews of the first generation victims of The Kashmir Genocide of the Kashmiri Pandit Community. It’s a heart-wrenching narrative of the pain, suffering, struggle and trauma of Kashmiri pandits and questions eye-opening facts about democracy, religion, politics and humanity.

Several BJP-ruled states including Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Tripura, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttarakhand have made the movie tax free. However, in Assam, there is no entertainment tax.

After seeing the film on Tuesday, Himanta has lavished praise for it. He took his Cabinet colleagues and other state MLAs to see the film, as he tweeted. "The massacre of Kashmiri Pandits and their migration is a stain on mankind. I was moved by the heartbreaking depiction of their condition in The Kashmir Files, which I viewed alongside my Cabinet colleagues and MLAs, as well as members of the Assam BJP and allies "He sent out a tweet. Vivek Agnihotri expressed his gratitude to the chief minister as well.PM Modi lauded the film and condemned the 'effort to undermine it on Tuesday, as the film has sparked a barrage of political criticism. Modi spoke at length on the film at a BJP parliamentary party gathering, saying that those who are criticising it are shocked that the truth they tried to suppress is finally coming out. "You must have heard the conversation over the Kashmir Files," he continued. "Those who hold the banner of freedom of expression, that entire group has been rattled for the last several days."

"Rather than evaluating the film on the basis of facts and truth, a movement to discredit it is underway. The entire environment is hostile to anyone who attempts to expose the truth. They simply strive to project what they want to see as fact; the plot for the past few days has been to ensure that no one sees the truth "Prime Minister Modi stated.