Mumbai: The premier Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)’s Progressive Students Forum cancelled the planned screening of the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after strong protests by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha activists, here on Saturday evening.
A student leader – declining to be quoted – said that the film and the projector could not be taken to the venue in view of the protests and pressures from the TISS management and the Mumbai Police.
“Accordingly, we decided to cancel the screening. However, we have forwarded the entire documentary to all the students and they are watching it on their gadgets like mobiles, laptops or tablets,” he told IANS, adding it has reached over 600 students on the TISS Deonar campus and outside.
The developments came even as the TISS management issued a stern ‘advisory’ on Thursday warning the students of strict action if they went ahead with the plans, followed by another circular this afternoon.
Unrelenting, the Progressive Students Forum (PSF) had said it was intended to be “a symbolic protest” against the government’s move to block access to the documentary and their move was in solidarity with other students’ organisations in campuses across the country.
The PSF’s defiant venture came after similar protests erupted in Delhi against the students of Delhi University and around 24 were detained on Friday, as some other institutions in different parts of the country also attempted similar screenings.
Mumbai unit Bharatiya Janata Party President Ashish Shelar had slammed the TISS-PSF plans to screen the documentary and urged the Maharashtra government to take action against the students for attempting to create law and order problems.
–IANS