ABVP raises complaint against screening of BBC documentary on PM Modi at Hyderabad Varsity
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Hyderabad: The screening of the controversial BBC documentary India: The Modi Question has sparked a new debate at the University of Hyderabad (UoH). Last Saturday, the documentary was shown at the shopping complex on the north campus.
The RSS-affiliated student organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has complained to the university administration over the screening. When contacted, a UoH representative stated that the administration has asked the campus security department for a thorough report.
The first episode of the BBC documentary "India: The Modi Question" has been blocked on YouTube, and Twitter has been requested to remove tweets containing the link, per instructions from the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Indian Express reported.
According to an ABVP statement, “ABVP-HCU informed the university admin about this screening because the broadcasting of this documentary was banned recently by the government of India. Also, we demanded the authorities to enquire about and take appropriate action against this incident.”
The ABVP has not yet reported anything to the police, though. B Shravan Raj, a UoH student and member of the ABVP's central working committee, remarked, “We would like to clarify that we have not gone to the police yet or staged a protest on this issue. We have only approached the university administration because they are the authority concerned. The UoH Admin is quiet on the issue.”
A notice regarding the ‘screening and discussion’ on the BBC documentary was undersigned “Fraternity Movement, University of Hyderabad”. About 70 to 80 students watched the documentary at the screening event.
People outside of the university are being misled about the situation, according to UoH Students Union general secretary Gopi Swamy.
“The screening was held peacefully on Saturday. There was neither any objection to it nor any tension followed. The documentary is blocked on certain platforms but it is not banned. I am really worried for our campus as this incident is being blown out of proportion,” Swamy, also a member of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA), said.
Abhishek Nandan, president of the UoH Students Union and a member of SFI, stated that the ABVP should cease acting as an agent of the BJP government at the Centre.
“If there is any action against the students who screened the documentary, we will stand with them. It is not a film made by any banned organisation but a media organisation with a worldwide network. It is not banned by the government or any court. We believe the culture of discussion and debate on university campuses should be encouraged,” he added.