BJP Slams 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' Makers For Concealing Muslim Names

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has jumped into the controversy over the Netflix series – 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' – for allegedly shifting the blame away from Pakistani terrorists involved in the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight.

The party accuses series director Anubhav Sinh of 'legitimising' the criminal intent of terrorists, by furthering their non-Muslim names.

'The hijackers of IC-814 were dreaded terrorists, who acquired aliases to hide their Muslim identities. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names. Result? Decades later, people will think Hindus hijacked IC-814 ," BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya said in a post on X.

Directed by Sinha, 'IC-814 The Kandahar Hijack,' is based on the 1999 hijacking of an Indian aircraft. The hijacking took place on December 24, 1999 after the plane took off from Kathmandu , Nepal. The series was released on Netflix on August 29.

Also Read | Mamata offered to be exchanged for Air India's IC 814 hostages: Yashwant Sinha

The series which features Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Vijay Varma, Dia Mirza, Arvind Swamy and Dia Mirza has been facing online criticism and boycott calls for allegedly hiding the real identities of the terrorists involved in the incident.

'Left agenda to whitewash crimes'

In the series, the codenames Bhola, Shankar, Doctor, Burger and Chief have been used for the five hijackers which has irked those criticising it.

“Left's agenda to whitewash the crimes of Pakistani terrorists, all Muslims, served. This is the power of cinema, which the Communists have been using aggressively, since the 70s. Perhaps even earlier,” Malviya said.

In the incident, the hijackers – Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhter, and Sayed Shakir – had taken control of the plane on its way from Kathmandu to Delhi. The crisis ended with the release of three terrorists – Masood Azha , Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar – in exchange for about 150 hostages.

MENAFN01092024007365015876ID1108624770