Indian university bans screening of BBC documentary on Premier Modi

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) – A top university in India has warned its student's union against the screening of the BBC documentary "India: The Modi Question" on the varsity campus.

Maintaining that "such an unauthorized activity may disturb peace and harmony" of the university campus, the administration of Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University said "no prior permission" was taken from the administration for the screening.

The advisory by the varsity has come days after the Indian government blocked social media content related to the BBC documentary. Local media reported that a student group at Hyderabad Central University organized a screening of the documentary on Monday.

Invoking emergency powers under the new information technology (IT) rules, the federal government ordered the blocking of YouTube videos and tweets sharing the first episode of the documentary last week.

BBC last week aired Episode 1 of "India: The Modi Question." The broadcaster said the episode is "a look at the tensions between Indian PM Narendra Modi and India’s Muslim minority, investigating claims about his role in 2002 riots that left over a thousand dead."

Episode 2 will be aired on Tuesday, according to BBC.

The documentary has yet to be officially released in India.

The documentary pertains to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership as chief minister of western Gujarat state during the 2002 riots that killed over 1,000 people, the vast majority of whom were Muslims.

Modi was Gujarat's chief minister from 2001 to 2014.

Last week, the country’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Arindam Bagchi described the documentary as a propaganda piece.

"We think this is a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative. The bias, lack of objectivity, and continuing colonial mindset are blatantly visible," he said.

While several opposition party leaders in India have criticized the ruling government for imposing censorship through its orders, a group of distinguished Indians wrote a letter against BBC "for anti-India hate propaganda."