JNU Authorities Failed to Prevent Students from Watching Controversial BBC Documentary on Modi
NEW DELHI, Jan 24: The authorities of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) reportedly snapped off the electricity and internet connections at the students’ union office but still could not prevent the interested students from watching the controversial BBC serial on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots when he was the chief minister of his home state. Sources said in view of the students planning to screen the documentary on Tuesday night, the university administration arranged for snapping off the electricity and internet connections to prevent them from flouting its directive asking students to desist from screening the documentary termed as “propaganda piece” by the union government.
The screening of the documentary was set to begin at 9 pm and the students had planned to go ahead with it despite the disapproval of the administration. The JNU administration had not given permission for the screening. It had even threatened to take disciplinary action against the student leaders responsible if the documentary is screened.
But the students insisted that the screening would not violate any rule of the university, nor would it spoil communal harmony. Ayeshi Ghosh, the president of the Students Federation of India, the students’ wing of the CPM, said, “We will definitely watch the documentary today. We will watch it through QR code.” The students finally trooped into a cafeteria inside the campus, where they watched the documentary after downloading it on their cellphones.
Last week the government had asked Twitter and YouTube to remove the controversial BBC series on Modi, which claims to have investigated certain aspects of the 2002 Gujarat riots when he was the state’s Chief Minister.
Slamming the government, several opposition leaders had tweeted alternative links where the first of the two-part series could be watched. In a sharp takedown of the BBC, the Centre had called it a “propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative.” “The bias and lack of objectivity and frankly continuing colonial mindset are blatantly visible,” the foreign ministry has said about the documentary, “India; the Modi Question.”
(Manas Dasgupta)
