THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Various political groups in Kerala such as CPM, Congress and Muslim League announced the decision to screen the controversial BBC documentary 'India: The Modi Question' in the state on Tuesday.
This prompted the BJP to urge Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to intervene and put a stop to such endeavours. The central government then blocked the airing of the documentary in the country through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The documentary questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership in the 2002 Gujarat riots, as he was the Chief Minister of the state at that time. It was removed from social media and the internet though. The second part of the two-part documentary will be released today.
CPI(M)'s youth wing, DYFI, kicked off the political storm in the state over the documentary by announcing on its Facebook page that it would be shown on campuses and public places statewide.
The screening of the documentary began from Tuesday noon onwards in Kozhikode Muthalakulam, and will also be screened at Poojapura ground in Thiruvananthapuram in the evening. State president V Waseef told The New Indian Express that the documentary at 2000 centres in the state.
Following that, similar announcements were made by the SFI -- a left-wing student organisation allied with CPI(M) -- and various wings of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), including the Youth Congress. They have has called for a nationwide screening of the documentary.
The documentary was screened at the Mangattuparamba campus in Kannur on Tuesday at 2 pm. It will also be screened at Maharajas College and Law College in Ernakulam and at CUSAT.
The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee's (KPCC) minority cell also said that the documentary would be screened in all district headquarters of the state on Republic Day.
BJP termed such a move as "treasonous" and asked the Kerala CM to urgently intervene and nip such endeavours in the bud.
BJP state president K Surendran filed a complaint with Vijayan demanding that permission be not given to screen the documentary in the state.
In his complaint, Surendran said that the screening of the documentary would be tantamount to condoning foreign moves to endanger the country's unity and integrity.
He also said that reliving the unfortunate events of two decades ago was aimed at "fueling religious tensions".
Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan also urged the CM not to allow the screening of the documentary and sought his urgent intervention in the matter.
In a Facebook post, Muraleedharan said that the re-introduction of allegations rejected by the Supreme Court questions the credibility of the highest court of the country.
Both Muraleeedharan and Surendran have dubbed the screening of the documentary as "treason".
SFI, in its Facebook post, said the documentary would be screened on various college campuses in the state.
State Youth Congress president Shafi Parambil, in a FB post, said that reminders of betrayal and genocide cannot be hidden by power and the BBC documentary will be screened in Kerala.
KPCC minority cell chairman, advocate Shihabuddin Karyat, in a statement said that the documentary would be screened in district headquarters of the party on Republic Day in view of the undeclared ban on it in the country.
The Centre had last week directed blocking of multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the documentary.
The two-part BBC documentary, which claims it investigated certain aspects relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of that state, has been trashed by the Ministry of External Affairs as a "propaganda piece" that lacked objectivity and reflected a "colonial mindset".
The directions on blocking access were understood to have been issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Friday using the emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021.
The central government's move has received sharp criticism from opposition parties like the Congress and the TMC for imposing "censorship".
At the same time a group of 302 former judges, ex-bureaucrats and veterans slammed the BBC documentary as a "motivated charge sheet against our leader, a fellow Indian and a patriot" and a reflection of "dyed-in-the-wool negativity and unrelenting prejudice".
(With inputs from PTI)