Screening Battle At Hyderabad University: SFI Screens BBC Documentary On PM Modi; ABVP Counters With Kashmir Files

On Republic Day, the Students Federation of India (SFI) of Hyderabad University organised a screening of the controversial BBC documentary 'India: The Modi Question'. On the other hand, the RSS-affiliated students' wing ABVP showed the controversial film The Kashmir Files on campus.

According to SFI, the screening of the BBC documentary on PM Modi on the occasion of Republic Day was successful as over 400 students turned up to watch the controversial two-part series.

“More than 400 students turned up for the screening organised by SFI, rejecting the false propaganda and the attempts of ABVP to create unrest and the administration to disrupt the screening of the documentary. SFI-HCU salutes the student community who have stood for freedom of expression and campus democracy,” SFI HCU said in a social media post.

Although the University registrar claimed there was no untoward incident during the screenings and the campus was peaceful, the ABVP alleged that their functionaries were manhandled by security officials on campus.

“The University Administration tried to stop the screening of the movie "The Kashmir Files". When ABVP Karyakartas were bringing the projector from the main gate, University Security manhandled our Karyakartas. There was another attempt by the administration to seize our projector,” ABVP HCU claimed in a social media post.

What is the controversy all about?

The two-part BBC documentary "India: The Modi Question" claims it investigated certain aspects relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots when Modi was the chief minister of the state.

Recently, the I&B Ministry blocked the series on YouTube and YouTube links to the BBC documentary.A report from the security department was awaited and further action would be taken accordingly, they said.

The government had directed social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links to the BBC documentary.

The Ministry of External Affairs termed the documentary as a "propaganda piece" that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset. However, opposition parties have slammed the government's move to block access to the documentary as censorship.

(With PTI Inputs)