BBC documentary: DU and Madras campus plan screening

Delhi: Student organisation Bhim Army Student Federation at Delhi University has planned a screening of a controversial BBC documentary on PM Narendra Modi. 'India: The Modi Question' is to be screened outside the arts faculty on the North Campus at 5 pm.

The Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India (NSUI) has also announced to hold the screening at 4 pm on North Campus and the Students' Federation of India (SFI) at 1 pm on the Ambedkar University Kashmere Gate campus, reported PTI.

The university administration on Friday sought police assistance and said it will not allow the screening. Proctor Rajni Abbi said the administration's permission had not been sought. "We have written to Delhi Police regarding this. They will take action. Proper police deployment would be done. We cannot allow such a screening. We have received information that NSUI is planning to screen this documentary at the Arts faculty... No permission has been sought for it. We will not allow such behaviour."

The Centre has called the documentary a propaganda piece with a colonial mindset. It also directed all social media platforms to block the links to the documentary.

Madras University students also have planned the screening of the documentary at 3 pm on Friday. They were denied permission. On Wednesday, the Jamia Millia Islamia's SFI was stopped from screening the documentary by police. The JNU students also faced problems on Tuesday over the same. In Tamil Nadu, Chennai Corporation councillor A Priyadarshini was detained on Thursday for watching it on her phone. A total of 20 people were taken into custody in relation to the incident.

The SFI at Kolkata's Jadavpur University was able to hold a screening on Thursday without interference from the police or the administration. In Hyderabad, the SFI on Thursday organised the screening at the University, and ABVP retaliated by screening 'The Kashmir Files'.