Despite protests, TISS students screen BBC documentary on campus

Mumbai : Despite a warning by the administration and a BJP Yuva Morcha protest, a mass viewing of the BBC documentary, ‘India: The Modi Question’, was held at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on Saturday in the presence of the institute’s security and police officials. Part 1 of the controversial documentary questions Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The Progressive Students Forum (PSF), which organised the screening, said on Saturday that more than 200 students watched the documentary. “The institute refused to provide a projector for the screening, so we played the documentary on a laptop in the TISS quadrangle,” Ramadas Prini Sivanandan, a member of PSF, told HT. “When we started the screening, the number of student viewers increased. So we played it on nine laptops.”

PSF had announced earlier this week that it would screen the documentary on campus on Saturday in solidarity with students from Delhi who were detained for viewing the film. On Friday, the TISS administration denied permission for the screening and, on Saturday morning, issued another circular.

“It is with utmost seriousness that we note that some students, through a group, are engaged in activities contravening the advisory issued on 27th January regarding the screening of a BBC documentary forbidden by the government, and attempting to mobilise and trigger students to do the same,” went the circular. “We caution students to understand that any such acts by any student or groups, violating the instructions issued on 27th January and engaging in any activities leading to disturbance of peace and harmony, will be held responsible for the same and will be dealt with duly under relevant institutional rules on the matter.”

The BJP, which is in power in Maharashtra, did all it could to stop the screening. The BJP’s Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar demanded that the screening not be held and accused TISS of trying to wreck the law-and-order situation in Mumbai and Maharashtra. The saffron party’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, staged a protest outside the campus at 5.45 pm with around 50 activists. After TISS and the police assured the Yuva Morcha that the documentary would not be screened, Yuva Morcha Mumbai chief Tajindar Singh Tiwana called off the protest at around 6.45 pm.

Sairam Mancha, a representative of the right-leaning Democratic Secular Students Forum, said, “Despite a warning by the administration and in the presence of security forces, the controversial BBC documentary was screened on campus on laptops. We condemned such a screening. We also urge the TISS administration to take stringent action against PSF and students’ representatives who supported it.”

After the clash between TISS and the students, around 100 police personnel, including 25 officers and one SRPF battalion, were stationed outside the campus till 9.15 pm as part of the procedural security granted by the police. Till late night on Saturday, no students were arrested or detained. When HT spoke to TISS, an official from the institute denied that a “screening” had taken place on campus. “Some students may have watched the documentary on their personal devices,” he said. “That can hardly be monitored.”

Late at night, PSF released an official statement saying, “PSF congratulates and salutes the brave students of TISS for joining the mass watching of the BBC documentary, ‘India: The Modi Question’, in huge numbers and making it a grand success. Despite the BJP’s attack and maligning campaign upon TISS and the institute administration refusing any form of cooperation, close to 200 students turned up in solidarity with our cause. There were 10 laptops streaming the documentary parallelly from various places in the campus.”

The statement added that groups of students also viewed the documentary on their mobile phones. While releasing a poster saying ‘Thank You TISS’ on social media, PSF said, “Collectively the students of TISS upheld our institution’s culture of debate, discussion and, most importantly, dissent. Even as BJP goons threatened to violate the peace and tranquillity of the institute, we gathered, protested, and in doing so, defended our right to free speech. We thank and salute all student organisations, the student union, and all other sections of TISS for their active cooperation and support.”