BBC documentary row: Delhi University seeks police protection as student outfits plan screening

Delhi University is now embroiled in the controversy surrounding the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots after the Bhim Army Student Federation, a group of students, called for its screening to take place at 5pm on the North Campus. According to news agency PTI, the Bhim Army Student Federation intends to screen "India: The Modi Question" in front of the arts faculty on the University of Delhi's (DU) North Campus.

Meanwhile, the Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India (NSUI) has announced that the screening will take place at 4pm on North Campus and at 1pm on the Ambedkar University Kashmere Gate campus.

The DU administration, however, stated on Friday that the BBC documentary will not be permitted. The university's proctor, Rajni Abbi, said that permission from the administration had not been sought.

"We have written to Delhi Police regarding this. They will take action. Proper police deployment would be done. We cannot allow such a screening," PTI quoted Abbi as saying.

"We have received information that NSUI is planning to screen this documentary at the Arts faculty... No permission has been sought for it. We will not allow such behaviour," she said, highlighting the fact that the film had been banned by the government.

The external affairs ministry called the film a "propaganda piece" that lacks objectivity and exhibits a colonial mindset, and the Centre had recently ordered social media platforms to block links to it.

According to reports, students in Tamil Nadu have planned a screening of the documentary at Madras University on Friday at 3 p.m. They were, however, denied permission. A Priyadarshini, a Chennai Corporation councillor, was detained on Thursday after watching the documentary on her smartphone. A total of 20 people were arrested, including the councillor.

On Thursday evening, the Students Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), screened the documentary at Kolkata's Jadavpur University. According to reports, the screening was conducted without interference from the police or the administration.

According to PTI, the All India Students' Association (AISA), another Left-wing organisation, has decided to screen the documentary on the campus of Jadavpur University on Friday.

Meanwhile, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has accused the BBC of being a "toolkit which is spreading lies and propaganda" amongst the Indians by its recently released controversial documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In an article and cover story which will appear in the upcoming issue of the RSS' Panchjanya magazine, it accused the BBC of repeating an attempt to impose lies and propaganda after the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Significantly, BBC has been caught up in controversies for making the documentary which has been rejected by the Ministry of External Affairs, for "allegedly being a symbol of colonial mindset, propaganda piece, prejudiced and lack of objectivity", the RSS said.

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