Vivek Agnihotri, whose film 'The Kashmir Files' is in the middle of a controversy triggered by the Israeli filmmaker and jury chairman of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Nadav Lapid, has slammed the Union Minister for Civil Aviation and Steel, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, after he discovered that his luggage was marked with an 'X' at the Mumbai airport.
The director took to Twitter and shared his concern with the minister, saying, "Dear @JM_Scindia ji, Please stop this pathetic system of marking bags at Mumbai airport with an 'X' made with chalk." He then added that how this practice projects India in a bad light globally as fliers from all over the world see their luggage on the conveyor belt marked with an 'X'.
Agnihotri tweeted that this was "very bad etiquette" and showed India as a "primitive and uncivilised country specially when PM Narendra Modi is talking about making India a global leader".
What 'The Kashmir Files' helmer may not have known is that cross-marking luggage at airports is a worldwide practice because all bags are X-rayed by Customs authorities before they are released into the conveyor belts. Usually, heavier-than-usual bags are singled out because the authorities may suspect that they have dutiable items that have not been declared by the persons to whom the bag belong.
