The banned BBC documentary — India: The Modi Question — was screened for the first time in Bengaluru late on January 28, Saturday night at the office of the All-India Students' Association (AISA) on Infantry Road. AISA had put out an invitation on various social media platforms on January 25, asking people to join them for a screening and discussion on a movie based on the rise of communalism in Indian society. The invitation did not mention the name of the documentary. It was only after the screening that AISA shared images of the screening on their social media sites on Sunday, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
An AISA convening member Aratrika Dey, told The New Indian Express, “Around 40 students gathered at the AISA office to watch the BBC documentary and later participated in a discussion on the rise of communalism. The students were from Christ College, IISc, Azim Premji University, St Joseph's and a few other colleges. Members from the All-India Central Council of Trade Union (AICCTU) too watched the documentary.”
Another AISA member, Srilakshmi Kunnandin, who was at the screening, said they had expected only 10-15 students for the screening as students are scared of detention by the police, like in other states, for watching the documentary. Srilakshmi said, “The screening went on smoothly and there was no ruckus. After the screening, we discussed issues of communalism, especially post-Godhra riots in 2002. The organisation believes that the ban on the documentary is a violation of the freedom of the press. The ban seems like an attempt to hide the truth behind the Godhra riots,”
She said the links to the documentary are being circulated in the name of the recently released Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan, expecting people to download and watch it. Meanwhile, AISA members supported students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and other colleges who have been detained by the police or suspended and expelled by institutions.
No complaint had been filed against the screening till late Sunday evening. A senior official from the higher education department said that since the movie was not screened in any college or educational institution, no action can be taken against them, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
