BBC documentary row: SFI plans screening at Jamia, University says will not allow; protesters detained
- In Reports
- 07:51 PM, Jan 25, 2023
- Myind Staff
A day after Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) planned a screening of the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left-affiliated Students’ Federation of India (SFI) on Wednesday announced to screen the documentary on the Jamia Milia Islamia campus at 6 pm. Issuing a notice, the university, however, said no permission has been sought for the screening of the documentary and “we will not allow” it.
The students claimed the administration cut power and internet to stop the event and staged a protest after stones were pelted at them. The university added that they are taking all measures to prevent people and organisations with a “vested interest to destroy the peaceful academic atmosphere of the university”.
The SFI’s Jamia unit has issued a poster informing the documentary will be screened at 6 pm at the MCRC lawn gate no 8. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police said they have detained four students after the SFI announcement plan to screen the controversial BBC documentary on the Jamia campus.
A Delhi Police official said four SFI members were detained, just hours before the screening planned for 6 pm by the student body. The SFI called for a protest at 4 pm against the detention.
“In an atrocious manner, Azeez, a student of Jamia Milia Islamia and SFI Jamia Unit Secretary; Nivedya, a Jamia Student and SFI South Delhi Area Vice President; Abhiram and Tejas, both Jamia students and SFI Unit members have been detained by the Delhi Police prior to the screening of the documentary,” the SFI said, adding, “The SFI Jamia Unit had decided to screen the BBC documentary today on the campus.”
The second episode of the BBC docuseries on PM Modi, meanwhile, came out, links to which surfaced on social media amid the central government trashing the documentary as a “propaganda piece” that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset. TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday shared a link to the second part of the series which questioned PM Modi’s leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The documentary by BBC on PM Modi has divided people with some sharing links and screening it and some slamming the UK’s national broadcaster and those supporting the documentary for being victims of “colonial intoxication”.
The row over the documentary titled “India: The Modi Question” snowballed on Tuesday with students of Hyderabad University screening it at campus and the students union of Delhi’s JNU also planning a screening, which did not happen as planned as the students’ outfit alleged that the varsity administration snapped power and internet connections at the union’s office. The students raised the issue and also alleged stone pelting and protested outside the Vasant Kunj police station in Delhi in the late hours of Tuesday.
On the other hand, the documentary was screened across Kerala on Tuesday by various political organisations including the SFI, as the BJP youth wing went up in arms protesting against the screening.
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