Such an unauthorised activity may disturb the peace and harmony of the university campus, says JNU
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration has denied permission to a group of students wanting to screen the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The student’s group planned to screen ‘India: The Modi Question’ on Tuesday at 9 P.M. “No prior permission for this event has been taken from the JNU administration,” the university said in a statement.
The government has blocked access to the two-part BBC documentary which claims to have investigated certain aspects of the 2002 Gujarat riots that killed over 2,000 Muslims. Modi was the state’s chief minister when the violence took place.
“This is to emphasise that such an unauthorised activity may disturb the peace and harmony of the university campus. The concerned students/individuals are firmly advised to cancel the proposed programme,” the JNU statement said.
Meanwhile, A group of students at the University of Hyderabad organised the screening of the BBC documentary, prompting the university authorities to launch a probe.
Visuals of some students watching the documentary in an open area on the campus went viral on social media after the same were posted by a group called Fraternity Movement.
The organisers had put up a projector to screen the first part of the documentary series.
The Central government had on Friday directed social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links to the series. The Ministry of External Affairs trashed the documentary as a “propaganda piece” that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset.
Opposition leaders have lashed out at the Centre with some of them even sharing the link to the documentary.
Trinamool Congress MPs Mahua Moitra and Derek O’Brien shared a list of Twitter links “blocked” on the government’s direction. Ms. Moitra said she will not accept “censorship” and posted a link to the documentary on her official handle.
“Sorry, Haven’t been elected to represent the world’s largest democracy to accept censorship. Here’s the link. Watch it while you can,” she tweeted on Saturday.
