TISS warning against BBC documentary defied: 'Over 200 students gather to watch'

The Bharatiya Janata Party has aggressively objected to the screening of the BBC documentary at the TISS. The saffron party's Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar has accused the institute of trying to spoil the law and order of Mumbai and Maharashtra.

More than 200 students are watching the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Mumbai's Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), the Progressive Students Forum, which is organising the screening, said on Saturday. This comes despite the institute warning the students against holding the screening.

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences has directed the students against holding the screening.

In its circular, the TISS administration had said,“It is with utmost seriousness 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”,

“We caution the students to understand that any such acts by any student or groups violating the instructions issued on 27th January 2023 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", it added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is in power in Maharashtra, has opposed the screening. The saffron party's youth wing Bharatiya Yuva Morcha staged a protest outside the campus.

The BJP's Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar demanded that the screening should be stopped, accusing the TISS of trying to spoil the law and order in Mumbai and Maharashtra.

“Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) is trying to spoil the law and order in Mumbai and Maharashtra by showing BBC's bogus documentary. The police should immediately ban it otherwise we will take the stand we want to take! TISS should stop this business!!”, Shelar tweeted.

The two-part documentary series ‘India: The Modi Question’, which chronicles the events which transpired during the 2002 Gujarat riots when Modi was the chief minister of the state, has triggered massive outrage both in India and abroad. The Modi government has come down heavily on the documentary, resulting in more than 50 tweets along with numerous YouTube videos sharing the film being taken down.

However, several political organisations have screened the documentary at places including university campuses including the Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Delhi, Presidency University and others. Clashes have also been reported during attempts to stop the screenings.