'IC814: The Kandahar Hijack' row: 'Sanghis' fear youths will know Vajpayee govt freed terrorists, says Subhashini Ali

New Delhi: Amid a row over the web series IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack, CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali on Tuesday said the "Sanghis" are objecting to it fearing that the young generation will know that terrorists were set free by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

The web series, directed by Anubhav Sinha, was released on Netflix on August 29. The depiction of hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi has stirred controversy with a section of viewers objecting to the 'humane' projection of the perpetrators.

Using hashtags #BoycottNetflix, #BoycottBollywood and #IC814, several X users shared posts claiming the filmmakers changed the names of the hijackers to 'Shankar' and 'Bhola' to allegedly protect the terrorists who belonged to a certain community.

In a post on X in Hindi, CPI(M) Politburo member Ali, said, "For Sanghis, the problem with Anubhav Sinha's Kandahar series is not with the aliases of the hijackers, but with the fact that the new generation will know that during the 'Amrit Kaal' of Atal Bihari (Vajpayee), his foreign minister freed two bloodthirsty terrorists from jail and took them to Afghanistan, who gave birth to Jaish-e-Mohammed. Hijackers also got away".

Netflix India's content head Monika Shergill on Tuesday met Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju, during which the OTT platform's official was apprised of the sentiments expressed by a large section of society and the need to be sensitive while handling such topics.

Voicing concern over the depiction of terrorists in the web series portraying the 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines flight by Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, a senior official said nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of the nation.

Over 154 passengers and crew were held hostage for eight days and the stand-off ended when hardcore terrorists Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar were released in exchange of the hostages.

Then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh took them on a special plane to Kandahar where the Indian Airlines flight was held hostage.