Bhopal, Sep 3 (IANS): Former Madhya Pradesh Minister and BJP leader Usha Thakur on Tuesday reacted to the ongoing controversy surrounding the Netflix series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack', which tells the story of the hijack of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 by Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen in 1999.
After the series was released, several social media users accused its creators -- Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava -- of changing the names of two hijackers to 'Bhola' and 'Shankar', thus hurting Hindu sentiments.
Speaking to IANS, Thakur not only demanded strict action against the web series makers, but also accused it of being anti-national.
"Such web series are part of a deliberate conspiracy to defame Sanatan Dharma. We are now only talking about the Kandahar incident, but there have been many movies and series before this that I have watched and complained about. Anything that doesn't promote truth and creates discord in society should not be shown to the public."
When asked about the demand to remove the names 'Bhola' and 'Shankar' from the series, Thakur said, "These names should absolutely be removed because no one named 'Bhola' or 'Shankar' ever hijacked a plane. Strict action should be taken against the web series as it is an act of treason. It should be dealt with under the anti-national law."
Meanwhile, facing flak from different quarters, Netflix India on Tuesday reportedly updated the opening disclaimer for the series to include the hijackers' real as well as code names.
Monika Shergill, Netflix Vice President (Content, India), said, "For the benefit of the audience unfamiliar with the 1999 hijacking, the opening disclaimer has been updated... code names in the series now reflect those used during the event."
On December 24, 1999, five hijackers took control of the Indian Airlines flight after it took off from Kathmandu enroute Delhi, and diverted it Kandahar in Afghanistan after making landings in Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai.
The Indian government had to release three terrorists -- Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Mushtaq Zargar -- to secure the safe release of 154 hostages.
The Union Home Ministry in January 2000 revealed the real names of the hijackers - Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir. The ministry also said during the hijacking, they referred to each other by code names -- 'Bhola', 'Shankar', 'Chief', 'Doctor', and 'Burger'.