A major university in India has threatened to take severe disciplinary action against its students’ union if it goes forward with a planned screening of a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, claiming that it would upset the peace and harmony on campus.
The BBC Modi documentary, which questioned Modi’s leadership during fatal riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002, was condemned by his administration as “propaganda.” The government also forbade its airing and the posting of any clips on social media across the nation.
When more than 2,000 individuals were killed in the riots, the most of them Muslims, Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat.
The students’ union of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, which has long been regarded as a stronghold of left-wing politics, announced on Twitter that it will show the documentary “India: The Modi Question” in a cafeteria at 9 o’clock that evening.
On its website, the university’s administration claimed that it had not provided the documentary’s screening approval.
The institution stated, “This is to emphasise that such an unauthorised activity may undermine peace and harmony of the university campus.
The concerned individuals/students are strongly encouraged to cancel the proposed programme right away; else, serious disciplinary action may be taken in accordance with university rules.
Aishe Ghosh, the president of the union, invited students to a documentary showing on Twitter that had been “‘blocked’ by a ‘elected administration’ of the largest ‘democracy’.”
After a train carrying Hindu pilgrims caught fire and killed 59 people, riots broke out in Gujarat. Later, crowds ransacked Muslim neighbourhoods.
11 men were sentenced to life in prison by the Gujarat High Court in 2017 for lighting the train on fire.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Modi was cleared in 2012 as a result of an investigation supervised by the Supreme Court, despite denials that he did not do enough to put an end to the rioting. Last year, a different petition that contested his exoneration was denied.
The documentary, according to the BBC’s statement last week, was “rigorously researched” and featured a “broad range” of voices and viewpoints, including comments from members of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
On Tuesday, the video will also be shown at a number of campuses in Kerala, a state in the south.