Despite a warning from the management of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), a group of students led by the Progressive Students’ Forum screened the two-part BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’, covering the 2002 Gujarat riots, and the BJP’s alleged communal politics.
President of BJP’s Mumbai unit and MLA Ashish Shelar condemned the incident. Mumbai police had deployed several personnel to ensure there was no law and order problem.
Shelar said the film is “pure propaganda designed to further a discredited narrative”. Using emergency powers, the Central government had the controversial documentary pulled down from social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter.
BJP likely to take up issue with Maha Govt
The BJP is likely to take up with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis the issue of TISS management’s “failure to stop the screening”. According to the BJP, the PSF compromised ultra-Left and jihadi elements. Incidentally, the TISS students’ union had adopted a neutral stand on the issue.
Meanwhile, the documentary was also screened at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). The screening came to light after the information was uploaded on FTII’s Facebook page.
As per the FTII Facebook page, “Throughout history, the banning of literature, music, and in recent times, media, has been a sign of a crumbling society. The act of scrutiny should be welcomed by our elected representatives. Instead, they quickly tag it as false propaganda and try to shove it under the rug. They should know that the most sure-fire way for something to be watched is to ban it.”
President of the FTII students’ association said, “Yes, we screened it on Republic Day. Banning a documentary is pure censorship and to protest against it, we screened. We have not received any directive or notice from the authorities at the institute so far. We did not formally inform the director or any authority at the institute.”
