In a crucial development to the controversial trend sparked by 'The Kerala Story', the movie has attained the status to be 'tax-free' in the BJP ruling state of Madhya Pradesh. The 'tax-free' status was conferred to the movie on Saturday - May 6, the day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi backed it and changed it as a weapon to attack the Congress party in Karnataka ahead of the assembly polls. 

On Saturday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that the movie 'The Kerala Story' would be exempted from taxes in the state. In a video message, Chouhan has complimented the movie and by announcing the tax exemption, he said, "The film gives an insight into the strategy of love jihad, conversion, and terrorism and exposes their deity face." 

Chouhan said, "The movie has brought to light what happens to the daughters who got into the trap of love jihad under the influence of emotions." By appealing to the people to watch the film, Chouhan said, "Our daughters and sons should watch this film and hence the Madhya Pradesh government has decided to make this a tax-free film." It is pertinent to note that the Chouhan administration had earlier conferred tax exemption for another controversial movie 'The Kashmir Files'.

On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing an election rally in Bellari, Karnataka, broke his silence about the movie and came in support of it by stating it as a terror conspiracy and that's why the Congress is opposing the movie. The Kerala Story has triggered a national attention for its storyline that has been alleged by the opposition and critics as promoting religious polarisation. 

While the BJP had backed the movie with the apparent support from the prime minister to senior leaders and supporters, Madhya Pradesh has become the first state to confer tax exemption for the movie and it has become an apparent bid of the party to promote the movie. By releasing a video message on Twitter, Chouhan wrote, "The Kerala Story is a film that has exposed the horrific truth of terrorism. It has been decided to make the film tax-free in Madhya Pradesh." 

Why The Kerala Story sparked controversy

Directed by Sudipto Sen, The Kerala Story shows that 32,000 girls from Kerala were converted to Islam and sympathized to join the terrorist organisation ISIS in Syria. Several opposition parties including the Congress and CPI(M) have opposed the movie and said that it is exhibiting communal misinformation. The parties have alleged that the filmmakers are promoting the propaganda of the Hindu nationalist outfits of defaming Kerala and propagating the idea of love jihad.