'Beyond Gujarat': What India's youth think of the BBC Modi documentary
Karthika was hardly 4 years old when the 2002 Gujarat riots, which had a lasting impact on India’s socio-political landscape, took place. Although she was aware of the incident that led to the death of over 1,000 persons, it was only 21 years later, on January 24, 2023, that Karthika, who is presently a Law student in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district, managed to understand the depths of the incident, courtesy a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi titled India: The Modi Question.
Unlike many of her peers at the Law College, Karthika claims that she does not associate herself to any student political outfit on campus. “I watched the documentary that was screened by the SFI only because there was a lot of controversy surrounding it. But it was an eye-opening experience for me. I have heard of some of these stories before, but now I’m more convinced about what happened in 2002,” Karthika tells TNM. Several other students, whom TNM reached out to, from various universities across the country, shared Karthika's view.
The documentary, which was aired on January 17, traces the political journey of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his steady climb through the ranks of the country's ruling party—the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It also sheds light on Modi’s role in the 2002 riots, during which he served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The Union government on January 21, however, termed the documentary as ‘“propaganda” and asked both YouTube and Twitter to remove links to the documentary.
With the Union government blocking the documentary, student groups and outfits affiliated to various Opposition parties decided to screen the documentary in university spaces. This did not go down well with the university administrations which resorted to various methods like cutting electricity and using internet jammers to prevent the screening as well as detaining students union leaders prior to the screening. However, a large section of the student community in India managed to watch the documentary, which was passed via telegram and WhatsApp groups.
‘Political statement’
Couple of days after students of Delhi’s JNU were barred from screening the documentary after the administration cut off electricity, students of the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) and the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) organised a documentary watching session in their campuses.
“We had been reading about the screenings that were taking place in other Central universities and how administrations were trying to disrupt and intimidate the students to stop the screening. So we decided to hold the screening as a statement of solidarity for those students and to send out a message that students cannot be silenced,” says 23-year-old Mukundan, a student of EFLU.
Speaking to TNM, Mukund said that although the documentary did not drastically change the perspective of students, it did have an impact in solidifying certain impressions that they had with regard to the 2002 riots. “For example, a lot of students who believed that Modi was responsible for the riots were further convinced about this after watching the documentary,” he observes.
More than Gujarat riots
The students that TNM spoke to say that, for them, the documentary offered a context to everything that is taking place in the country today. “I believe the 2002 Gujarat riots is what made Narendra Modi, the leader. And now, our generation is able to link all the present day happenings such as attacks on minorities to the anti-Muslim riots of 2002,” says Navas, a student of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
It’s also for the first time after the CAA-NRC protests in January 2020, that a large mobilisation of students were seen across the country. During the post screening discussions in various universities, students had raised various arguments that went beyond the content of the video. Speaking to TNM, Varkey Parakkal, Delhi State Committee member of the Students Federation of India (SFI), said that this is a larger issue, where the government is deciding what the people of the country should do.
“A single political party now decides what the people should watch, what they should eat, and what they should wear. There is a larger issue here—that of the infringement of our constitutional rights,” says Varkey.
The screenings that were organised across the country witnessed the participation of not just students who are politically active, but also that of those, like Karthika, who carry the apolitical label. And according to several student activists, it is these sections of the students who were majorly impacted by the documentary.
“For students who usually stay away from political discourse, this documentary was an eye-opener. Because their idea of India is that of being the world’s largest democracy, where people from all walks of life, across religious and caste lines, interact and co-exist in harmony. Now they see a country that goes way beyond this facade,” says Aratrika, a Bengaluru based student, who is also a member of the All India Students Association (AISA).
On being asked as to what motivated the students to take part in these screenings in such large numbers, Varkey, who is also a student of Delhi University, said that one of the reasons is the rebellious nature of youth to do things that they’ve been asked not to do. “Naturally, when the government is making such a fuss about the video, people will have a curiosity to find out what’s the big deal. And on top of that, youngsters don’t like being told what not to do. These are all factors as to why a huge section of the youth took to watching the documentary,” he says.