Students at TISS screen BCC documentary on PM Modi despite warning, protests

New Delhi: Despite the warning and protests by BJP workers, Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) students gathered and watched the BCC documentary on PM Modi on laptops and phones. The institute also issued advisories to students and the management of its branches against any mass event of screening the controversial and banned documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’.

ABVP and BJYM led the protests outside the campus and took a step back when police assured taking an action against the students who plan to screen the documentary. However, students did not go for a mass screening but reportedly chose to watch it on their laptops.

The BJP’s Mumbai chief Ashish Shelar demanded the screening be stopped and accused the TISS of spoiling the law and order in the city. He demanded the police to take an action and warned that in case there is no action taken, then they will take the needed action themselves.

TISS Student Union leader Pratik Permey said they have not planned any such event, but a group called the Progressive Students Forum (PSF) is the organiser behind the documentary screening.

Such incidents were also seen in DU, JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi and SFI also did a screening of the documentary at the Presidency University in Kolkata. About 20-25 people, who came for the screening at the Faculty of the Arts at Delhi University despite Section 144 of CrPC imposed, were detained by Delhi Police.

The two-part BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ revolves around the 2002 Gujarat riots and the Indian government took it down from platforms like YouTube and Twitter claiming it to be a ‘propaganda piece’.