Guwahati: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) protesters in Kerala were charged with unlawful assembly and traffic disturbance.
The BJP activists were reportedly protesting on the streets of Poojapura and Manaveeyam Veedhi in Thiruvananthapuram, where the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the Youth Congress had played the contentious BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The BBC documentary has been prohibited by the Center because it is a “propaganda piece” meant to forward a discredited thesis.
A few students from Hyderabad Central University (HCU) planned to show the video inside the campus on Monday night (January 23). Over 50 students from various groups attended the movie, which was sponsored by the Muslim Student Federation (also known as the Fraternity group) and the Student Islamic Organization (SIO).
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student leader Mahesh said, “We have escalated the matter to the University authorities and have demanded action on the organisers. The group is organising screening without permission inside the campus premises.”
Later, the Hyderabad Police stated that although they had been informed of the movie showing, no formal written complaint had been made.
The administration of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi issued a warning against displaying the documentary on campus on Monday after a group of students distributed a flyer inviting students to a showing of the BBC documentary at the students union office at 9 p.m. on Tuesday(January 24).
The JNU Students Union responded in writing to the university administration’s strong recommendation against the screening of the BBC documentary by declaring that they “do not aim to create any type of strife” and that their intention is to simply view it on campus. The letter further stated that the pupils who expressed a “voluntary interest” in participating in the screening would do so.
Later that evening, while the aforementioned documentary was playing, JNU students marched into Vasant Kunj police station, alleging that ABVP members had been throwing stones at them.
The protest was then called off After the police promised to take up the issue and look into it right away
India criticised the BBC documentary series on Prime Minister Modi last week.
“We think this is a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative. The bias, lack of objectivity, and frankly continuing colonial mindset are blatantly visible,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said during a weekly media briefing on January 19.
More than 300 distinguished Indians, including retired judges, government officials, and veterans of the armed forces, signed a declaration criticising the British national broadcaster for its “unrelenting hostility” toward India and its leader in response to the BBC documentary.