KOLKATA: West Bengal’s Birbhum district police stopped students at Visva-Bharati University from screening the BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots on Thursday evening when Union defence minister Rajnath Singh was present on the campus in Bolpur town, police officials said.
The documentary has been dismissed by the Indian government as “propaganda” and its screening by student groups in several states has triggered controversy.
Rajnath Singh arrived at Visva-Bharati on Thursday afternoon to attend the annual convocation on Friday morning as the representative of the Prime Minister who is the chancellor of the state’s only Central university set up by Rabindranath Tagore in 1921.
Singh’s plane landed at the Andal airport in West Burdwan district from where he flew to Bolpur in a chopper. He was watching a cultural show on the campus when the screening was stopped around 300 metres away.
A police contingent led by additional superintendent of police (Addl SP) Surajit Kumar Dey was stationed at the Ratan Pally grounds adjacent to the campus where the Left-affiliated Democratic Students Association (DSA) wanted to screen the documentary, India: The Modi Question, an officer said on condition of anonymity.
“The students dispersed after they were told that the screening could lead to a law and order problem,” the officer added.
Shuvo Nath, a DSA member, told the local media that the screening was prescheduled and had nothing to do with Singh’s visit.
“We will plan another screening in the coming days,” he said.
Visva-Bharati’s spokesperson Mahua Banerjee said, “The law of the land must be adhered to.”