BHOPAL: Just a day after its nationwide theatrical release, the controversial Adah Sharma-starrer The Kerala Story was declared tax free in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.
The decision by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government to give tax breaks to the movie (which focuses on the alleged forced religious conversion of women in Kerala before they were inducted into the terror outfit ISIS) happened six months before the next assembly polls in the central Indian state.
Announcing the decision himself, the MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "The Kerala Story exposes the plot of Love Jihad, religious conversion and terrorism. It brings to the fore, the disgusting face of these menaces. This film also reveals how the lives of those daughters are destroyed, who in momentary emotions get trapped in Love Jihad. It also tells us about the designs of terrorism."
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"We've already enacted a law to stop forced religious conversion in MP. This film needs to be watched by everyone, including parents and children, particularly the daughters. This is why the MP government is declaring this film tax free," Chouhan declared in a video message.
Just a few days ago, some ruling BJP leaders, including state party secretary Rahul Kothari, had written to the MP CM requesting him to declare The Kerala Story tax free in the state.
With Saturday's development, MP became the first state in the country to give a tax break to the controversial movie.
The Kerala Story has now become the fifth film in three years to have been declared tax free in the central Indian state.
In January 2020, the then Kamal Nath-led Congress government had declared the Deepika Padukone-starrer movie Chhapaak (based on the true story of an acid attack survivor woman) tax free.
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The next month, in February 2020, the same Congress government (just a few days before it was brought down by its own MLAs) had declared Taapsee Pannu-starrer movie Thappad tax free in the state.
More than two years later in March 2022, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led present BJP government declared Vivek Agnihotri-directed The Kashmir Files tax free in the state.
Three months later the same BJP government declared the Akshay Kumar-starrer Samrat Prithviraj as tax free.
