IC-814 series row: Ministry tells Netflix to keep religious sentiments in mind

It was conveyed to Netflix representatives that they must keep religious sentiments and sensitivities of the public in mind, sources in the I&B Ministry told The Indian Express.

While the government has no immediate plan to ban the series, officials from Netflix — including its content head — have been asked to find a way to douse the controversy, said the sources. The ministry is also likely to summon Anubhav Sinha, the maker of the series, it is learnt.

Former Union Minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar posted on X: “Every man and woman in India and indeed in South Asia knows that the hijack of IC-814 from Kathmandu was committed by Pakistan’s ISI-backed terrorists. Now, nobody thinks that there were some people from India who did the hijacking. So how the people have Hindu names in that movie, I don’t know. But I’m very happy that the I&B Ministry and the GoI have taken cognizance of this and have summoned Netflix.”

BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya said the hijackers were dreaded terrorists who acquired aliases to hide their Muslim identities. “Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names. Decades later, people will think Hindus hijacked IC-814,” he posted on X.

The Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi was hijacked on December 24, 1999 and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan. The hijacking ended more than a week later — after negotiations, the release of three terrorists by the then BJP government and the death of one of the 179 passengers onboard.
Former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said it was amusing to see the people who took movies like Kashmir Files as gospel truth having a “meltdown” about the way the events of IC-814 are depicted. “Now suddenly they want accuracy and nuance packaged in the script,” Abdullah said on X.

Shiv Sena-UBT leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said the series was a reminder of the then BJP government’s “massive failure” then. “It reminds the nation how the intelligence and government agencies were caught off guard. Much like the Kargil war too,” said the Rajya Sabha member.

Meanwhile, actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut, whose film Emergency is yet to get a clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification, said Monday: “Censorship is only for some of us, who don’t want tukde (pieces) of this nation.”