Indian students to defy ban with more screenings of BBC’s Narendra Modi documentary

Government says ‘India: The Modi Question’ is propaganda, but many students determined to watch despite a ban, police intervention and opponents’ intimidation

Programme questions PM’s leadership during riots in his home state Gujarat in 2002 in which at least 1,000 died, most of them Muslims; some say death toll was 2,500

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Students watch security personnel guard a gate of Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi on Wednesday. Tensions escalated after a student group said it planned to screen a banned BBC documentary that examines Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role during 2002 riots. Photo: AP

Published: 1:00am, 26 Jan 2023Updated: 2:24am, 26 Jan 2023

Indian students said they would show again a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the government has dismissed as propaganda after a Tuesday campus screening was disrupted by a power cut and intimidation by opponents.

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.

More than a dozen students were detained by police at a New Delhi university on Wednesday ahead of the screening, broadcaster NDTV reported.

Modi’s government has labelled the documentary, which questions his leadership during riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002, as a “propaganda piece” and blocked its airing. It has also barred the sharing of any clips on social media in India.

Modi was chief minister of the western state during the violence in which about 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims. Human rights activists put the toll at around 2,500.

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