Friends of Indian Society International (FISI) organised a spectacular event at the Nehru Centre to understand the lop-sided and biased narrative of Kashmir in western societies wherein the gruesome stories of the Kashmiri Hindus are either distorted or blatantly hidden. The event was opened by well-known Author & Director of Nehru Centre, Amish Tripathi and to provide different dimensions to the topic in hand, a distinguished panel of speakers were present including Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (The Kashmir Files Director & Author), Pallavi Joshi (Actor and Producer), Chris Blackburn (Political Analyst in the UK) and Pandit Satish Kumar Sharma (Author of Caste, Conversion, A Colonial Conspiracy).
The interjections touched upon many aspects including global terrorism of which Kashmir is a prime victim, a prevalent anti-Hindu bias and a need to deliberate for protection of diverse Indian aka Bharatiya values and thought processes. The discussion also included under-representation of India’s voice-share in the international media circuit and policy-making forums.
Pandit Satish Sharma, an active ambassador of Indian culture in the UK, provided cultural and philosophical aspects of the Indian thoughts and urged the need for the Indian diaspora to come together.
Chris Blackburn shared his experiences on global terrorism and exposed its links with Islamist charities in the US and UK. He also underlined how the mindspace of specific communities are almost monopolized by fringe organizations which in turn aids terrorists. He highlited the sinster effort to muzzle his voice by certain menacing forces who didn’t want the world to know about the underlying nexus between the terrorists.
Pallavi Joshi pointed to the fact that while the Indian diaspora is hugely successful and have made significant economic contributions to the countries they live in, they lack influence proportional to their economic success in critical issues pertaining to India. She relayed the difficulties and price that they had to pay for bringing out stories of India on sensitive issues that no filmmaker had ever ventured upon. She questioned the muting of freedom of expression under the diktats and bigotry of a certain ideology seen on British soil.
Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, famed director of The Kashmir Files, said that he and his production company, I am Buddha, had made it their mission to make purposeful cinema which challenged skewed narratives and revealed hidden truths. He spoke of Hindus being a global minority and Bharat which is both a modern democracy & an ancient civilisation facing a multi-pronged attack. He revealed that his upcoming film ‘The Delhi Files’ tagged as the ‘Right to Life’ would broadly try to address this issue. He remarked that hiding the truth about Kashmiri Hindus’ massacre and displacement was as vicious and justice-defeating as the terrorising violence and torture and the subsequent cleansing that the community had to endure. His remarks got a thunderous applause from the jam-packed audience.
The event left the audience intrigued and inspired. It was attended by a cross section of the Indian diaspora including councillors, heads of different community organisations and journalists. The event was compered by FISI Executive Member Saritha Rahul & the panel discussion was moderated by FISI Executive Member Sweta Bhatia. The vote of thanks was given by FISI Executive member Sushil Rapatwar. The guest speakers were felicitated by FISI President, Madhuresh Mishra & FISI General Secretary Manu Khajuria.
Friends of India Society International (FISI) UK is a non-profit organisation that strives to strengthen the relationship between UK and India and also promotes dialogue on India’s social and cultural issues.
