A BBC documentary about Indian Prime Minister Modi has caused tension among student organisations in India, with some students attempting to watch the film despite government efforts to ban it. This has led to events such as stone-throwing at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Tuesday, January 24 and the detention of students at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI). The situation involves accusations and counter-accusations, with both sides expressing their concerns.
On the question of freedom, Professor Sucharita Sen from JNU says, "Everyone should have the freedom to do what they want. If a certain section of students wants to see a film, it is their choice. No one should be forced to do anything."
However, this aside, universities state that prior permission was required to screen the film, a protocol which the students did not follow. "On 21st January 2023, the Fraternity Movement in University of Hyderabad (UoH) campus, a students’ group, organized a screening of the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question at the Shopping Complex, in the North Campus of the University without any prior notice or permission," reads a statement from UoH.
The statement further mentions that students did not accede to the security team's request to stop the film and "the University has asked for the report on the event for taking further necessary action." Nonetheless, the campus is peaceful and there is no tiff between the students and authorities regarding the screening.
SFI Secretary at UoH, Shiva Durga Rao, said, "Planning the screening was our freedom of expression," though he claims that in the past, they were never required to take permission for planning a screening or arranging a talk at the venue. However, the students are content. "We are not aware of the administration asking any student to submit a statement on the matter. Everything is peaceful here," Shiva adds.
But ABVP UoH wants action to be taken against the students who watched the film. "The government has banned it. Then watching it is illegal and such activities should not be encouraged," said Shravan B Raj, Central Working Committee member of the student organisation.
The narrative is similar in the case of JNU. However, while the administration claims that students had not taken permission for the screening, students claim that they do not need permission to plan any activity at Teflas, JNUSU's (JNU Students' Union) office. "At about 8:10 pm, there was a power outage and stone pelting occurred," says Shagnik Sarkar, a member of SFI JNU. He positively states that the attackers belonged to ABVP.
The organisation, on the other hand, claims that its members had no hand in the incident, and were falsely accused. "There were many students from JMI. Our members were detained without cause and we have even filed a police complaint, demanding action against this harassment," said Ambuj Mishra, a member of ABVP JNU. "The screening should not have been organised in the first place as it is not sanctioned by the Centre," he added.
While the students are up in arms at each other, Professor Sen laments the incident. She says that she does not have first-hand information on what happened, but was informed about it late at night by students. "Even the teachers' quarters experienced a power outage for three and half hours. The university says that it was a fault but students say it was deliberate," she stated.
Dr Sen said further that she wrote to the Registrar at 11:30 pm to fix it, as it was very concerning that the darkness was taken advantage of to attack students. "Luckily no student was seriously hurt. But the normalisation of violence and inefficient security in the campus have become matters of grave concern," she added.
Meanwhile, asked about the situation at JMI, the SFI President at the campus said that so far, the police have detained 3-4 students from SFI, including their Secretary. "We are not sure if the screening will happen today but we have called for a mass protest regarding this today at 4:00 pm. This is a crackdown on freedom of speech," she said.
These incidents have made headlines. However, with time, more student organisations are planning to screen the documentary. The film has been screened in parts of Kerala. And today, AISA at Jadavpur University, West Bengal, has decided to screen it.
