ABVP members allegedly attack students at Pondicherry University for attending screening of BBC documentary on PM Modi

Members of the ABVP allegedly attacked students at Pondicherry University who were attending a screening of the BBC's controversial documentary, "India: The Modi Question," despite the ongoing campus ban on Wednesday, January 25. Ananthapadmanabhan, President of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) at the university confirmed the incident to EdexLive.

"As soon as the documentary began, around 10 ABVP workers started raising slogans and provoking students to create trouble. Eventually, they pushed through the crowd and few comrades were beaten up," he added.

Earlier, the screening was supposed to be held in hostels.  However, ahead of the screening, the university administration allegedly threatened to cut off the WiFi connection and interrupt the power supply as well, students were informed. "Since the university administration has threatened to cut power supply as well as WiFi inside the hostels, the scheduled protest screening of the BBC documentary The Modi Question has been shifted from the hostels to the Gender Gate," a statement by the student-led organisation said on Twitter yesterday.

The screening at the new venue did not stop despite the violence. The ABVP workers were taken away and the screening resumed. "However, the WiFi was not working even in the library yesterday. It still hasn't been restored," the SFI President added.

The government had on Friday directed social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links to the documentary titled India: The Modi Question. The Ministry of External Affairs has trashed the documentary as a "propaganda piece" that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset. However, opposition parties have slammed the government's move to block access to the documentary.
The two-part BBC documentary India: The Modi Question claims it investigated certain aspects relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots when Modi was the Chief Minister of the state. The documentary has not been screened in India.