Indian students confront Modi's censorship

Police detain a student after announcement of a screening of the BBC documentary at Jamia Millia Islamia university in Delhi

Last week we reported on the Indian government’s ban on the new BBC documentary exposing Narendra Modi and his comrades’ role in the 2002 massacre of Muslims in Gujarat.

Social media platforms have rushed to enforce the ban. Between Modi first becoming prime minister in 2014 and 2020, Indian government legal actions to remove content from Twitter increased by 48,000%. The company previously fought back at least a bit; the indications are that under Elon Musk that is coming to an end.

Opposition has come from India’s university students, who have organised large screenings of the documentary across the country, despite the ban and obstacles from management obstruction to Hindu nationalist intimidation to arrests by riot police (in Delhi).

The Hindu nationalist regime is proving in spades precisely what the BBC programme seeks to illustrate, that it represents a menacing threat to the most basic human rights and freedoms.

Students in Oxford are holding a showing in solidarity with students in India (on 31 January), and students at London universities discussing similar.

• More on support for the left and labour movement in India from India Labour Solidarity here and on Twitter