Ahead of JNU union polls, ABVP screens documentary on Muzaffarnagar riots

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) screened a documentary on Monday night based on the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots in the campus

By: News Desk |
August 23, 2017 11:24 am

Ahead of students’ union elections at JNU, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) backed student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) screened a documentary on Monday night based on the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots in the campus which suggests that the real reason behind riots was a Hindu women being harassed by members of minority community.

The 36-minute-long documentary titled ‘Muzaffarnagar, Aakhir Kyon?’ tries to explain “why the riots took place, and concludes that it started with a case of sexual harassment which was deliberately communalised”.

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Introducing the film to 100-odd students, its director Vivek Sinha said, “Agar aapke ghar me ma hai, behen hai, beti hai, bhabhi hai… kya aap bardasht karenge ki woh bahar nikle toh koi unpe chheentakashi kare, chhed-chaad kare, gangrape bhi karle ya utha le jaane ki dhamki de. Agar koi aisa kehta hai, toh aap kya karenge uss dauran? Koi aadmi kaise react karega, (If you have a mother, sister, wife or sister-in-law, will you tolerate anyone harassing, gang-raping or kidnapping them if they go outside? If anyone says that (they will do so), what will you do? People will react…)”

The screening happened two years after another documentary based on riots , Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai ( Muzaffarnagar Eventually), was denied permission to be screened at JNU citing lack of permission by the organisers. Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai (MBH), by Nakul Sawhney, showed how the BJP had filled the vacuum left by the collapse of the Bharatiya Kisan Union in Muzaffarnagar and how the then Samajwadi government of Uttar Pradesh did little to check the communal frenzy whipped around rumours that Jat women’s “honour” was at risk.

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Meanwhile, JNUSU president Mohit Pandey uploaded a clip of Sinha’s talk on YouTube. “We don’t believe in using the ABVP’s tactics of violent opposition. Instead, we exposed how they propagate hate, especially before polls, be it at JNU or in Muzaffarnagar before the Lok Sabha polls.”

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