BBC documentary screened at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University; ‘Kashmir Files’ shown at Hyderabad University
A controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi was screened peacefully within the premises of the prestigious Jadavpur University (JU) in Kolkata without any resistance either from the state administration or from any group opposing the content of the film.
The screening of “India: The Modi Question” on Thursday evening was organised by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the students’ wing of the CPI(M).
Over 200 students of the university were in attendance, according to Suvankar Majumdar, a member of the JU’s zonal committee of SFI.
“The screening was conducted peacefully without any resistance or disturbance,” he added.
On Friday, the SFI will screening the documentary within the campus of the Presidency University (PU).
The screening will take place at the badminton court within the PU campus at 4 p.m., SFI’s Kolkata district president Debanjan Dey told IANS.
“A formal email informing the PU authorities of the roposed event has already been sent,” he added.
On Tuesday night, high drama prevailed at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in New Delhi, with student members alleging that they were attacked with stones while watching the controversial documentary.
There was similar tension over the two separate initiatives by Congress and CPI(M)’s youth wing Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) for screening the documentary in Thiruvananthapuram.
There were reports of clashes there as well.
Meanwhile in Hyderabad, as the SFI screened the documentary at the University of Hyderabad (UoH), the RSS’ student wing, ABVP showed the controversial film ‘The Kashmir Files’, on the campus. The Fraternity Movement in UoH campus, a students’ group, had earlier organized the screening of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question” on January 21, at the varsity campus without prior notice or permission, prompting the University authorities to seek a report on the incident for taking necessary action.
The screening of the documentary “India: The Modi Question”, access to which was recently blocked by the Centre on social media platforms, was earlier announced by the SFI at the university campus. The screening of the documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ was organised by SFI Hyderabad Central University (SFI HCU) on Republic Day following the call of SFI Central Executive Committee (SFI CEC). “More than 400 students turned up for the screening, rejecting the false propaganda and the attempts of ABVP to create unrest and the administration to disrupt the screening of the documentary. SFI-HCU salutes the student community who have stood for freedom of expression and campus democracy,” a social media post by SFI HCU said, tagging the photos. UoH, is also known as Hyderabad Central University (HCU).
Countering it, the students of ABVP HCU organised the screening of ‘The Kashmir Files,’ on the university campus. Written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri, the Bollywood film depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir following systematic killings of people from the community by Pakistan-backed terrorists. UoH Registrar Devesh Nigam in a statement said the Dean-Students’ Welfare had counselled the student groups and issued an appeal not to do any screening of films in view of the law and order issue, maintaining peace and tranquillity in campus and forthcoming end-semester exams starting from next week. However, students decided to go ahead with their programme schedule. “We have come to know that one group held the screening in one of the hostels,” he said adding the campus is peaceful.
The Central government had earlier termed the BBC documentary as propaganda against the Prime Minister and the country.
