In Delhi, JNU students’ union at odds over plan to screen PM Narendra Modi documentary

NEW DELHI: Following the decision taken by Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union to screen a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 24, the university administration asked for the programme to be cancelled, saying on Monday that peace and harmony could possibly be disrupted on account of the screening.
The BBC documentary, “India: The Modi Question”, has been criticised by the central government and has been blocked on social media platforms under emergency powers under the new IT rules.
According to a poster released on social media by JNUSU members, including president Aishe Ghosh, on Monday, the screening will be held on Tuesday at the union office on the university campus.
In its advisory, the JNU administration noted that “a group of students in the name of JNUSU” had released the pamphlet on the scheduled screening and said in its advisory, “No prior permission for this event has been taken from the JNU administration. This is to emphasise that such an unauthorised activity may disturb peace and harmony of the university campus.”
The administration also warned of disciplinary action against those involved if the programme was not cancelled. “The students or individuals concerned are firmly advised to cancel the proposed programme immediately failing which strict disciplinary action may be initiated as per university rules,” read the advisory.
Prior to the issuance of the advisory, Mohammad Danish, joint secretary of JNUSU, said, “The documentary was initially on YouTube. Everyone has the right to watch it instead of it being banned. People should watch and decide for themselves whether anything is wrong or not. This is the idea behind the decision to screen the documentary.”
While it is learnt that the students’ body held a meeting following the university’s advisory, it did not issue any statement on the matter.
However, referring to a 2018 tweet by the PMO handle that read, “I want this government to be criticised. Criticism makes democracy strong: PM”, Ghosh tweeted on Monday, “I think the JNU administration missed the tweet by our PM (that he) tweeted some years back. Just reminding. We take his words quite seriously.”