Students in India plan to show BBC documentary on PM Modi

People watch the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question on a screen installed at the Marine Drive junction under the direction of the district Congress committee in Kochi on January 24, 2023. PHOTO AFP NEW DELHI - Indian students said they would show a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the government dismissed as propaganda after a Tuesday campus screening was disrupted by a power cut and intimidation by rivals.

The Students' Federation of India SFI plans to show the documentary, India: The Modi Question, in every Indian state, its general secretary told Reuters on Wednesday.

The documentary, which questioned his leadership during the riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002, was labeled as a propaganda piece and blocked its airing and barred the sharing of any clips on social media in India.

In the violence in which more than 2,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims, Modi was the chief minister of the western state.

Mayukh Biswas, General Secretary of the SFI, said that India blocks the BBC documentary on PM Modi but they won't stop the voice of dissent.

At Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, hundreds of students watched the documentary on the mobile phones and laptops on Tuesday, after power was cut in the campus before a scheduled screening, said student leader Aishe Ghosh.

The university had threatened disciplinary action if the documentary was screened, saying it had not given permission for a show that might disturb peace and harmony on campus.

It was the administration that cut off power, Ghosh said. Ghosh said campuses across the country are encouraging screenings as an act of resistance against this censorship.

This handout photograph released by India's Press Information Bureau shows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking during a virtual meeting with leaders of Central Asian countries in New Delhi, India, Jan 27, 2022. The media coordinator for the university administration didn't say anything when asked about the power cut on the campus.

Ghosh said members of a right-wing student group threw bricks at the students hoping to see the documentary hurting several, and students had complained to the police.

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A spokesman for the right-wing student group did not respond to a message seeking comment.

A police spokeswoman didn't respond immediately to a request for a response.

The 2002 Gujarat violence erupted after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims caught fire, killing 59. Crowds then rampaged through Muslim neighbourhoods.

Modi denied any allegations that he did not do enough to stop the riots, and was exonerated in 2012 after an inquiry by the Supreme Court. A petition questioning his exoneration was dismissed last year.

READ MORE: Modi wants to sell cut in food aid before the election.

The BBC said the documentary was rigorously researched and involved a wide range of voices and opinions, including responses from people in Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.