SRINAGAR: Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, director of The Kashmir Files, has turned down an invitation from the prestigious Oxford Union to participate in a debate on Kashmir, labelling the proposed theme as “offensive” and “anti-India”. Agnihotri confirmed his decision on Thursday through a post on X (formerly Twitter), where he expressed his concerns about the subject matter of the debate.
“I was invited by the prestigious Oxford Union to debate on Kashmir. I found the theme offensive, anti-India, and anti-Kashmir,” Agnihotri tweeted. He added, “On principle, I have declined the offer.”
The invitation, which Agnihotri shared in his post, referred to him as “one of the most well-equipped individuals to talk on this challenging topic in today’s highly pressing climate”. The event was expected to feature prominent figures, including British MP Naz Shah, Pakistan’s current Defence Minister, and an Indian Supreme Court Justice.
Agnihotri, however, found the theme—titled ‘This House Believes in an Independent State of Kashmir’—unacceptable. In his response to Oxford Union, he stated, “Your invitation to debate this topic is a direct challenge to India’s sovereignty, and it is unacceptable to me.”
“I find it not just obnoxious but offensive—not just to 1.4 billion Indians, but also as a humiliation of hundreds of thousands of displaced Indigenous Hindu victims of the Kashmir genocide of 1990,” he said in the response that he put on Twitter. “Framing it as a debate feels like turning a tragedy into a parlour game where the stakes are human lives and the cost is in blood, not just ink.”
Agnihotri stressed that Kashmir’s story should not be treated as a debatable issue, concluding, “Kashmir’s story is not a debate topic.”
