The Students Federation of India (SFI) presented the divisive BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the riots in 2002 at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University on Thursday night. According to reports, neither the police nor the administration interfered with the showing of “India: The Modi Question.”
The BBC documentary was blocked by the Center last week for a number of YouTube videos and Twitter posts that contained links to it, so the event was held as several Left-wing organizations either planned or showed it.
According to Sandip Nayak, a senior member of the organization, news agency PTI previously reported that the All India Students’ Association (AISA), another Left-leaning organization, also decided to broadcast the video on the Jadavpur University campus on Friday.
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The SFI, the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has also requested permission to show the documentary on Friday at Presidency University in the state capital of West Bengal.
On February 1, the video will also be shown by members of Presidency University’s visual arts organisation, according to Moitreyo Sarkar, one of the organisers.
The documentary criticizes Modi’s involvement in the riots as the chief minister of Gujarat at the time. Over 1,000 people died in the riots after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was purportedly set on fire in Godhra by a Muslim mob.
13 Jamia Millia Islamia students who were detained in Delhi on Wednesday for allegedly causing a disturbance outside the university hours before the BBC documentary’s showing were freed on Thursday, according to the police.
According to a statement from the university, Jamia Millia Islamia cancelled classes on Friday at the request of both students and teachers. The administration stated in a memo that all university offices, including the departments, centers, and schools, will operate normally.
This happened the day after students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi claimed they had been stoned while watching the video on their phones since the university administration had barred its showing.
Meanwhile, the ABVP, the student arm of the RSS, screened another contentious movie on campus on Thursday called “The Kashmir Files,” while the SFI in Hyderabad organized the documentary’s showing at the University of Hyderabad, according to PTI.
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An earlier showing of the BBC documentary on January 21 at the university campus was organized by the Fraternity Movement on UoH’s campus without prior notification or authorization, which prompted the university administration to request a report on the incident in order to take the necessary measures.
