Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar has urged the Maharashtra government to take police action against students of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) after they announced their plan to go ahead with the screening of the controversial BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ on the campus Saturday. The institute’s administration earlier issued a warning to students against screening the documentary.
In a statement, Shelar said, “The police should act or else we will have to step in. It is a bogus documentary. And those determined to show this documentary in public are escalating tensions. It will lead to law-and-order problems. TISS should stop this immediately.”
Earlier this week, Progressive Students’ Forum (PSF) – a student collective at TISS –announced the screening of the documentary on campus on Saturday in solidarity with students from Delhi. On Friday, however, the institute’s administration issued an advisory to students asking them to refrain from participating in activities in connection with the documentary.
Despite the warning, PSF has announced that it will proceed with the screening on Saturday evening. “Not an inch back. TISS students will watch BBC Documentary,” states a social media post by the PSF, condemning the institute administration’s stand against the screening or gathering in connection with the BBC documentary.
“We appeal to the entire student community in TISS and across universities to rise in rage against the ban and attack on free speech by the BJP government as well as the TISS administration,” states the social media post by PSF.