Bollywood actor Anupam Kher took a journalist of Dainik Bhaskar head-on in an exchange of words on Twitter on 15th June 2022. In his tweet, the actor reprimanded a journalist named Rajesh Sahu and advised him to write an article on the atrocities committed against Kashmiri Hindus.
Kher asked Rajesh Sahu that instead of preaching knowledge to others, he should try to write on terrorism or about the Kashmiri women who were raped. Anupam Kher replied to Rajesh Sahu in response to a tweet by Sahu in which he suggested Anupam Kher leave the puja rituals and ask for security for Kashmiri Hindus.
This Twitter fight started on the night of 14th June 2022 when Anupam Kher tweeted, “Tomorrow, I am going to Varanasi where I will be doing Shanti Path for the peace to the souls of the Kashmiri Hindus who were brutally killed in the Hindu genocide by the terrorists. This was a resolution I made during the shooting of the film The Kashmir Files. This puja is called Tripindi Shradh Puja. I thank the organizers.”
मैं कल वाराणसी जा रहा हूँ।द कश्मीर फाइल्स की शूटिंग के दौरान मैंने निर्णय लिया था कि मैं उन सभी कश्मीरी हिन्दुओं की आत्मा की शांति का पाठ करवाऊंगा, जिनकी #HinduGenocide के दौरान आतंकवादियों द्वारा निर्मम हत्या की गई थी।इस पूजा को त्रिपंडी श्राद्ध पूजा कहते है।आयोजकों का आभार!?
— Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) June 14, 2022
Rajesh Sahu, in response to the actor’s tweet, wrote, “You need to go to Kashmir before you come to Varanasi. The situation there is bad. Go there and talk to the Governor about the safety of the Pandits. Then you come to Mahadev and do the puja rituals for the peace to the souls of the Kashmiri Pandits.”
आपको वाराणसी आने से पहले कश्मीर जाने की जरूरत है। वहां के हालात खराब हैं। वहां जाकर राज्यपाल महोदय से पंडितों की सुरक्षा को लेकर बात करें। फिर महादेव के पास पंडितों की आत्मा की शांति के लिए पाठ करवाएं।
— Rajesh Sahu (@askrajeshsahu) June 14, 2022
Many users reacted to this response by the Dainik Bhaskar journalist. Anupam Kher responded to Sahu’s tweet and wrote, “Do something yourself. You are a journalist in Dainik Bhaskar. Write an article describing how brutally terrorists have killed Kashmiri Hindus in Kashmir in the last 35 years. Write how their mothers and sisters were raped. Condemn terrorism. I am going to perform the Puja for those who were killed by the bullets of those very terrorists.”
कुछ आप भी कर लो! आप दैनिक भास्कर में पत्रकार है! लिखिए एक लेख कि कैसे कश्मीर में पिछले 35 सालों से आतंकवादियों ने कश्मीरी हिंदुओं को बेरहमी से मारा, उनकी माताओं, बहनों से बलात्कार किया! आतंकवाद की भी बुराई कर लो।जिनकी पूजा के लिए जा रहा हूँ।वो उनकी गोलियों के ही शिकार हुए थे।? https://t.co/xBUUohjwr3
— Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) June 15, 2022
While replying to this tweet by Anupam Kher, Rajesh Sahu twisted the topic and took it in a different direction. He held the film The Kashmir Files responsible for the negativity in the He wrote, “We write that atrocities took place in Kashmir. But why not blame the then government at the time of violence against Kashmiri Pandits? This part was cleverly hidden in your film as well. Your film has spread only negativity. In Kashmir as well as in the country.”
It is notable that since the release of The Kashmir Files, many influential persons like Farooq Abdullah have cited this film as the reason for the target killings of Hindus, trying to pretend that the movie is the reason for the attacks against Hindus. Apart from them, the liberal community of social media never digested the things shown in this film. Many of them shared similar reactions in replies to the tweets by Anupam Kher and Rajesh Sahu. Some of them even mocked Anupam Kher’s acting in this film.
While they spent their energy trying to blame the then governor, the then government, VP Singh, and even the recently released film for the brutal targeted killings of Hindus in Kashmir, none of the Islamists and ‘Left-liberals’ ever condemned the actual reason behind the killings and violence, Pakistan-sponsored Islamic terrorism.
Even Sahu’s comments that ‘The Kashmir Files’ “only fanned negativity” is another attempt in that direction. The Hindus in Kashmir have been killed systematically long before, during and after the exodus in 1990 and the murders are still ongoing, but all these ‘secular liberals’ try to do is ignore the actual perpetrators, while blaming the movie that presented the brutal truth. A 2022 movie is being blamed for the systemic, organised murders targeting the minority Hindus that have plagued the valley for decades while whitewashing Islamic terrorism that actually committed the murders and is still at it.
The Tripindi Shradh was performed in Kashi on Wednesday for the peace of the souls of Kashmiri Pandits. As declared in his tweet, Anupam Kher attended the rituals and represented the Kashmiri Pandits. The program started at around 10 am at the Pishachmochan Kund in Kashi. People from Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh were present in this ritual. The Shradh rituals were performed by Shrinath Pathak alias Rani Guru while Dr Santosh Ojha performed the Anushthana. The Tripindi Shradh rituals were organized by an NGO called Aagaman.
