Key takeaways:
- Police in riot gear blocked students from entering a university in India’s capital to stop a scheduled screening of a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi that has been banned in the country.
- More than a dozen students were detained by police at a New Delhi university on Wednesday ahead of the screening.
- The incident has sparked outrage among students and activists, who have accused the government of trying to stifle free speech.
Delhi, India – Police in riot gear blocked students from entering a university in India’s capital Wednesday to stop a scheduled screening of a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi that has been banned in the country.
The documentary, “India: The Modi Question,” examines Modi’s role in riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002. Students at another top Delhi college, Jawaharlal Nehru University, said power and internet connections were cut the previous day to stop them showing the documentary on their campus.
Modi’s government has labelled the documentary as a “propaganda piece” and blocked its airing. The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) plans to show the documentary in every Indian state, its general secretary told Reuters on Wednesday.
More than a dozen students were detained by police at a New Delhi university on Wednesday ahead of the screening, broadcaster NDTV reported. At least four people were reportedly detained by police, including officers in plain clothes, at Jamia Milia Islamia University.
The incident has sparked outrage among students and activists, who have accused the government of trying to stifle free speech. The SFI has vowed to continue to fight for the right to show the documentary and to challenge the government’s decision to ban it.
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