Thiruvananthapuram: The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the CPM, began screening the banned BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ in Poojapura town here amid strong protests on Tuesday evening.
Workers of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, launched a protest march to the spot of the screening. Police had to use force and water cannons to disperse the agitators. Some even had to be arrested and moved from the scene.
The chaos led to a major traffic snarl along the Jagathy-Poojapura stretch.
The two-part documentary claims it investigated certain aspects relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots when Modi was the chief minister of the state. The documentary drew flak from the Indian government and was banned from being screened in the country.
Union Minister V Muraleedharan and BJP State President K Surendran had urged the chief minister to intervene and stop the screening of the documentary. While Surendran filed a complaint with the CM, Muraleedharan wrote on his Facebook page that showing a documentary that features allegations denied by the Supreme Court would be equivalent to questioning the judiciary.
Last Friday, the government directed Twitter and YouTube to block links to the documentary. The Ministry of External Affairs has trashed the documentary as a “propaganda piece” that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset.
Some of the YouTube channels that aired the first part of the programme were forced to remove the content.
(To be updated)