Even as an increasing number of BJP-ruled States are giving tax sops to the film ‘The Kashmir Files’ with Tripura being the latest one, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Maharashtra has demanded that the local government makes the movie tax free.

The Tripura government has decided to make ‘The Kashmir Files’ tax-free to encourage people to watch the movie based on the ordeal of the Kashmiri Pandits during the start of the insurgency in the valley in the early 1990s.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Monday appealed to the people to watch the movie directed by Vivek Agnihotri, PTI reported from Agartala.

“‘The Kashmir Files’ movie made by Vivek Agnihotri depicts the heart-wrenching struggle and trauma faced by Kashmiri Hindus. To support his movie and encourage the people of the State to watch it, Tripura government has decided to make it tax-free in the state,” Deb tweeted.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) welcomed the government’s decision.

“The Kashmir Files is a well-documented movie based on brutality faced by Kashmiri Hindus in the valley. We appeal to all Tripura residents to watch the film to know the reality of how the Pandits were tortured and driven out of their homeland,” VHP West Tripura district president Bijoy Saha said.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Nitesh Rane has written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday requesting the movie be exempted from entertainment tax in Maharashtra, Republicworld.com reported.

Rane stated in his letter that the tax break will enable more people to see for the first time the “true depiction of atrocities inflicted by terrorists on Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir”.

Earlier, Madya Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, and Karnataka Governments had declared ‘The Kashmir Files’ movie tax-free in their States. The Haryana government also directed cinemas and multiplexes not to charge state GST on the screening of the movie.