New Delhi: Indian students are defying a ban on a BBC program delving into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s past, despite arrests and attempts by authorities to prevent them from holding screenings.
The two-part programme, “India: The Modi Question”, examines claims about Modi’s role in the 2002 riots in Gujarat, which killed over 1,000 people, most of whom were Muslim.
Modi was serving as the chief minister of the western state when the violence broke out.
The government, using emergency powers under information technology laws, banned the documentary over the weekend, but students continued to organize screenings across the country.
At least 13 students of Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi were taken into custody for 24 hours on Wednesday after they tried to screen a documentary on its campus.
highlight
• The documentary examines the role of Narendra Modi in the deadly Gujarat riots in 2002.
• The government sees the British broadcaster’s program as ‘manipulated by a foreign power’.
The proctor of Jamia Islamia University handed us over to the police. On Friday, Jamia authorities closed all facilities for students,” Aziz Sharif of the Students Federation of India, one of the arrested students, told Arab News.
“We grew up with a certain idea of India with secular values and democratic principles, but this government has attacked everything.”
Earlier this week, authorities cut off power at Jawaharlal Nehru University when students gathered for a screening of the documentary.
Aishe Ghosh, president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Students’ Union, said, “We wanted to screen the documentary so that young people could form their own opinion.”
“The new generation does not remember what happened in Gujarat in 2002 because they were too young. But when we look at today’s reality, it is important for the younger generation to make the link that the same political party which is in power in Delhi was responsible in one way or the other for the creation of a massacre in the state of Gujarat.
He said universities are where students should have “space to debate and discuss and be different”.
As the government ban means the film cannot be streamed or shared on social media – and Twitter and YouTube have complied with a government request to remove links to the documentary – the students argue that there is no explicit ban on screenings. Not there.
“Where is the order banning the documentary?” said Abhishek Nandan, president of the University of Hyderabad Students’ Union, which has organized a screening and discussion on the first episode of the programme.
“The documentary contains the truth about the Gujarati riots that journalists and civil society groups have been telling for the last 20 years.”
Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party sees the British broadcaster’s film as manipulation and an attack on India’s judicial system.
“A foreign power undermining India’s judicial system is not the right thing to do. BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Mittal told Arab News, “The entire episode of Gujarat riots has been closely scrutinized by everyone, including the judiciary.”
In 2013, a court in Gujarat found Modi not directly responsible for the riots. The Supreme Court upheld the decision in 2022.
“The documentary is an attack on the judicial system of this country. That’s why it is not allowed.
“The country is right not to allow manipulation by a foreign power.”
The film could dent Modi’s reputation at a time when India is presiding over the Group of 20 largest economies and will be hosting the G20 summit this year.
Political analyst Sanjay Kapoor told Arab News, “It is clear that PM Modi realized the documentary had the potential to hurt his reputation when he could least afford it.”
“For him, the G20 forum provided him with an opportunity to showcase himself as a world leader, and he did not want his image to be tarnished as someone who was involved in the Gujarat carnage.”