Tag: Visva

Screening of BBC documentary on Modi at Visva Bharati stalled

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Kolkata: An attempt to screen the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots on the campus of Visva Bharati university in West Bengal’s Birbhum district on Thursday evening by the members of the Democratic Students’ Association (DSA) was foiled after a large contingent of police assisted by the university’s own security team took possession of the screening venue, not allowing the students to bring the screen equipment there.
The police and university authorities claimed that the decision of not allowing the students to screen the controversial documentary was prompted by security reasons following the arrival of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the same evening to attend the convocation ceremony of the university on Friday.
However, university sources said that since the Prime Minister himself is the Chancellor of the university, the screening of the documentary — ‘India: The Modi Question’ — that too in the presence of the Defence Minister, would have sent wrong signals and hence the top authorities decided to stall the screening with the help of the police.
DSA spokesman Subho Nath told mediapersons that the planning and announcement of screening the documentary were made much before the announcement of the Defence Minister’s visit.
“Also, the screening venue is at a distance from the venue of the convocation ceremony. We were feeling the pressure for not screening the documentary for quite some time. Finally, the university authorities with the help of district police stopped us from screening it. Be it the Union government or the state government, they are all all on the same boat when it comes to suppressing the democratic rights of the students. But we will not backtrack. We will screen the documentary some other day,” he said.
After not being able to screen the documentary, a section of the students staged silent protests within the university campus holding posters which claimed that be it the Centre or the state government, the nature of the fascist forces is the same.
Commenting on developments, BJP’s national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said that the students who tried to screen the documentary on such an occasion are actually ‘anti-nationals’.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 23, 2023
Visva Bharati students to screen BBC’s documentary during Rajnath visit

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Kolkata: The students’ wing of the Democratic Students’ Association (DSA) in Visva Bharati University in West Bengal’s Birbhum district announced that they will screen the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the campus on Thursday to coincide with arrival of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for the university’s convocation ceremony.
The Defence Minister and Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar are scheduled to arrive at Bolpur-Santiniketan late Thursday evening and attend the convocation ceremony scheduled on Friday morning.
According to DSA spokesman Subho Nath, the BBC documentary will be screened at Nimtala Ground at the Ratanpalli area at 6 p.m. on Thursday. BJP’s Birbhum district unit has already criticised the move.
BJP’s Birbhum district President Dhoruba Saha said that a member of a students’ wing “with Maoist affiliation” had deliberately planned this screening at the time of the Defence Minister’s visit just to insult him. “These fake leftists tried to create a similar ruckus within Jawaharlal Nehru University at New Delhi over this documentary. However, the people of India do not trust them and they are totally isolated from the people,” he claimed.
However, the DSA spokesman said that the timing of the screening coinciding with the visit of the Defence Minister is totally coincidental. “We have nothing against Rajnath Singh. The BBC documentary has been screened in several universities in the state already. At the same time the venue of the screening is quite at a distance from the venue of the convocation ceremony,” he said.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 22, 2023
Visva Bharati student gets show-cause notice for backing Amartya Sen on social media

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Kolkata: Visva Bharati university authorities have issued a show-cause notice to one of its students after the latter supported Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on social media over the current row where the university Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty has accused the economist of unauthorised occupation of the university land in excess of his legal entitlement.
The student, Somanath Sou, is an active member of the CPI(M)’s student wing Students’ Federation of India (SFI). Recently he made a post on social media condemning the attitude of the university authorities towards Sen in the current row.
He said in his post that this is nothing but unnecessarily harassing the globally acclaimed educationist and economist. According to him, certain elements are constantly advising the vice-chancellor that by harassing Sen he would get the support of the BJP.
According to Sou, from the land records it is clear that Sen is legally entitled to the entire land including the 13 decimals of land which the university authorities claim to be held by him beyond his legal entitlement. “The real truth must be revealed since in this process an aged and globally acclaimed educationist is being harassed unnecessarily. The university authorities should come out with papers in support of their baseless claims,” he wrote in his social media post.
Soon after that he was slapped with the show-cause asking him why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for being vocal against the university despite being a student there. In the notice Sou has been warned of strong disciplinary action if he repeats a similar action in the future.
On February 11, Sen’s advocate issued a legal notice to the university authorities asking the latter to tender a public apology for their derogatory comments in connection with the continuing row over 13 decimals of land occupied by him. “The university authorities should apologise for making such derogatory comments. Else appropriate legal action will be taken,” said Sen’s counsel Gorachand Chakroborty.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 14, 2023