On Friday evening, the College Street campus of Presidency University in Kolkata witnessed high drama and chaos after the power outage during the screening of the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The screening of ‘India: The Modi Question’ was organized by the Students Federation of India (SFI), the CPI-student M’s wing, a day after the SFI hosted a similar show via projector at the Jadavpur University campus in Kolkata.
The film was watched by more than 50 university students at the time, according to the report.
The Left-backed students’ body claimed that there was a sudden power cut during the screening, which they claimed was an attempt by the university authorities to stop the broadcast of the two-part documentary series, that allegedly questions Modi, who was the Gujarat chief minister during the 2002 riots.
According to SFI members, the power outage was an attempt by the university authorities to stop the screening of the documentary series.
“We protested on campus against the (varsity) authorities as they intentionally disrupted the screening,” news agency ANI quoted Anandarupa Dhar, an SFI member, as saying.
“We made all necessary arrangements for the screening. We urged all students to join us in large numbers at the common room for the screening,” she added.
The SFI said the venue was shifted from the sprawling badminton court to the students’ common room. The screening began at 4.30pm but there was another power cut at around 5.30pm and a number of students took out a protest march on the campus. They shouted slogans like “Halla Bol” and “We want azadi from communalism, hatred, dictatorship”. The power supply was restored at the university common room around 6pm and the screening resumed.
More than 100 students watched the documentary at Jadavpur University on Thursday, according to the SFI, and neither the police nor the institute administration interfered with the screening.
The Centre recently issued instructions to block multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts containing links to the documentary. The Centre has also ordered that copies of the document be removed from YouTube. The government called it a “propaganda piece designed to push a discredited narrative”.
Police were called to the Delhi University campus on Friday to maintain law and order after “outsiders” attempted to screen a controversial BBC documentary at the arts faculty, according to registrar Vikas Gupta, after several students were detained.
This follows a similar uproar at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia over the documentary’s screening.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said 24 students were detained from the DU’s Arts Faculty and the situation is now back to normal.