In the most recent round of demonstrations over the controversial BBC’s documentary on the Gujarat riots, Kerala police have lodged a complaint against BJP protesters for unlawful assembly and impeding traffic.
Kerala police have registered a case against BJP protestors for unlawful assembly and traffic disruption.
— ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2023
BJP workers protested at Poojapura and Manaveeyam Street in Thiruvananthapuram where DYFI and Youth Congress had screened the BBC documentary yesterday.
Tuesday saw the screening of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question” in numerous areas of the state, which prompted protest marches by the BJP’s Yuva Morcha.
In order to disperse Yuva Morcha protestors in the state capital of Kerala, where tensions were particularly high, police resorted to using of water cannons and tear gas.
The documentary screening location in Thiruvananthapuram, Poojappura, drew Yuva Morcha supporters as well. Yuva Morcha organised protest marches to the Victoria College in Palakkad and the Government Law College in Ernakulam, where SFI showed the video as promised.
Police intervened in both instances to disperse the protesters and avert any confrontation.
Meanwhile, Anil Antony, son of the previous chief minister A.K. Antony, reportedly backed the BJP during the current political upheaval in the state by saying that screening the documentary would “undermine” Indian institutions’ sovereignty.
The BJP urged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to intervene and prevent such efforts after several political organisations in Kerala said they would screen the documentary. The BJP called the action “treasonous” and urged the chief minister of Kerala to act immediately to halt it.
K Surendran, the state president of the BJP, complained to CM Vijayan and demanded that permission not be granted for the documentary to be screened in the state. Surendran said in his plea that showing the documentary would amount to endorsing foreign efforts to undermine the unity and integrity of the nation. He further said that it was intended to “flame religious tensions” to revisit the regrettable incidents from 20 years ago.
Additionally, the CM was asked to prevent the documentary’s screening and requested urgent action in the situation by Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V. Muraleedharan. In a Facebook post, Muraleedharan stated that the Supreme Court’s integrity was being called into doubt by the re-introduction of claims that it had previously rejected.
The BBC documentary was criticised by 302 former judges, ex-bureaucrats, and veterans as a “motivated charge sheet against our leader, a fellow Indian, and a patriot” and as a manifestation of “dyed-in-the-wool pessimism and unyielding prejudice.”
