On stage, Kerala film festival anti-CAB banners raised

mangaloretoday/ IE

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 11: The ongoing International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) Tuesday became a venue for the staging of a protest against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill that seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi refugees – leaving out Muslims – who entered the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan until December 31, 2014. The bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday, is currently being debated in Rajya Sabha.

The crew behind the 2019 Malayalam film ‘Unda’ got on stage at the Tagore hall in Thiruvananthapuram and displayed banners against the controversial Citizenship Amendment bill as well as the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The film ‘Unda’, that portrays a contingent of the Kerala Police deputed to provide security for conducting elections inside a Maoist-infested region in Chhattisgarh, was screened at the IFFK Tuesday. The film’s writer Harshad and director Khalid Rahman were among the film crew that staged a protest against the bill. Some of the delegates and visitors to the film festival also burned copies of the bill, alleging that it was discriminatory in nature and violated the secular principles of the country.

On Tuesday, several parts of Assam, Tripura and Manipur witnessed violent protests against the controversial bill.

After clashes between security forces and protesters in Tripura, mobile internet and sms services were banned for 48 hours beginning 2 pm on Tuesday. Over 1700 protesters were detained post the agitation in Tripura alone.