Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 25: A day after the ruckus at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), ugly scenes were seen at Delhi’s prestigious Jamia Millia Islamia University on Wednesday over a plan to screen the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots.
More than a dozen students, including members of a left-wing group, were detained by the police and classes were suspended. Student activists, waving banners and raising slogans against the crackdown, were seen being hauled away by the police.
High drama ensued at the Jamia Millia with several students detained for allegedly creating ruckus outside the campus ahead of the screening. Earlier in the day, the students belonging to Left leaning Students Federation of India (SFI) said they would screen the documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ at 6 pm today.
The Jamia administration has said no screening of the film will be allowed without permission. “The University reiterates that no meeting of students or screening of any film will be allowed in the campus without permission. University is taking all measures to prevent people/orgs having vested interest to destroy peaceful academic atmosphere here”, the university said in a circular.
Police in blue riot gear and vans with tear-gas cannons reached the gates of the college in southeast Delhi. Only students appearing for examinations were being allowed in and others turned away. In an order issued on Tuesday, authorities at Jamia had said they will not allow any unauthorised gatherings on campus after the Students Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), announced the screening on Facebook.
The documentary, based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat during the 2002 riots, has kicked up a storm with the government clamping down on the film and asking social media companies to take down links to it. The opposition has slammed the move as blatant censorship.
A similar screening organised by some students at the JNU had run into trouble on Tuesday evening with both internet and electricity turned off in the students’ union office. A crowd of hundreds instead huddled together outside in the dark to watch the documentary on phone screens or their laptops, and the evening ended with a protest march. The JNU authorities had warned of disciplinary action if the documentary was screened, saying the move might disturb peace and harmony on campus.
Many students at the JNU had alleged that they were attacked with stones allegedly by the BJP-affiliated students while watching the documentary on their mobile phones. “The students were not doing anything illegal. The documentary has not been formally banned. Dissenting against the government is a right enshrined in the constitution. If these basic qualities of a democracy are being denied in places of higher learning where we are supposed to teach students to question, be critical, to dissent, then it is showing a very dangerous trend in what is supposed to be the biggest democracy in the world,” Varkey Parakkal, a leader of the SFI said.
The Modi government has labelled the two-part documentary series ‘India: The Modi Question’ as a “propaganda piece.” He has been cleared of any wrongdoing by investigations into the Gujarat riots. Last year, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal against his exoneration in one of the cases linked to the killings. Over 1,000 people were killed in the three-day violence in Gujarat in 2002 and the state police faced grave charges of not doing enough to stop the riots that began after a train coach carrying pilgrims was burnt in Godhra, killing 59 people.
The SFI in Kolkata’s Presidency University has sought permission from the university authorities to screen the documentary on January 27 at 4 pm. The documentary was screened by various political organisations in Kerala despite the BJP staging protests against it.
The Centre’s decision to ban the documentary has been condemned by opposition parties including the Congress and the TMC. Trinamool MP Mohua Moitra shared the link to the second episode of the two-part documentary. “Here is Episode 2 (with buffering delays). Will post another link when they get one this removed,” she tweeted.
