FoE under Attack: Movie Screening Banned at JNU

 

 

 

Leftist hooligans unleashed violence on the JNU Campus and created an atmosphere of terror to disrupt the screening of a documentary film “In the Name of Love”, based on the strange scenario prevailing in Kerala where Islamist fringe groups are employed by international terror network for luring and trafficking Hindu-Christian girls to the countries like Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. The screening of the film was organised by Vivekananda Vichar Manch at Sabarmati Dhaba on Friday.

 

 

 

The violent mob tried to attack the filmmaker and the organisers of the event and even went so far as to destroy the screen. Mohit Pandey, ex-JNUSU president tried to drove his car through the crowd to create havoc. He hit a security guard down and ran the car over his leg causing serious injuries and fracture. The guard was rushed to hospital in an ambulance. Several students who supported the event, were brutally attacked and admitted to hospitals with injuries. “After having murdered Freedom of Expression at Sabarmati Dhaba, JNUSU President Geeta Kumari helped Mohit Pandey and Aamir escape after intentionally hitting a guard. The guard has been grievously injured,” former Joint Secretary Saurabh Sharma, an ABVP member said in a statement. A female guard was also assaulted by the leftists. ABVP workers alleged that Mohit Pandey attacked the female guard. The police have launched an FIR on the petition filed by the students and the victims.

 

 

 

Speaking to Organiser, Sudipto Sen, the director of the documentary, said that he was manhandled by the leftist goons. “They are no less than street goons. They physically assaulted me and tried to break my gadgets. They pulled off the video code to the screen and tried to destroy the screen worth 20 lakh rupees. It is nothing but a brutal attack on the Freedom of Expression and art,” he said.

Ambika JK, the scriptwriter of the film, said that she had made several appeals to the agitating mass not to disturb the exhibition of the film. “I told them that I am a daughter of Kerala and I have a better understanding of the scenario. I invited them for an open debate after the screening. But they shunned my offer for a debate and resorted to violence even without watching the film,” she said.

 

Condemning the leftist violence and the attack on Freedom of Expression, a student who voted for the leftist union last year told Organiser that she wanted to watch the movie as she was curious about the content but the violent mob interrupted the show. “This unjustifiable violence in the name of Communism is not at all acceptable. I was there to watch the movie along with other 500-600 people. A group of hardly 50 students started their protest before the screening. It is absolutely ridiculous that you are protesting against a film even before watching it or knowing the content. If this is their stand on this particular movie, the leftists have lost all civil and moral rights to pretend to be the guardian angels of the Freedom of Expression outside the campus. They should have at least watched the movie and if there was anything objectionable in it, the protest would have been justified. Later I understood that the lion”s share of the movie is devoted to the Communists to speak out their perspective,” she said. Leftist politicians like Brinda Karat and VS Achuthanandan and prominent Leftist-Islamist scholars and journalists are also sharing their versions in the film.

 

 

 

“They started attacking us and stopped the screening in the pretext of protesting against RSS and BJP. But I am an independent filmmaker, from a Communist family in Bengal. My sister was subject to brutal torture and police oppression for being a Communist. I have seen all sorts of Communists from Charu Majumdar to Jyoti Basu but I have never seen such goons masquerading as Communists and apostles of the Freedom of Expression. I did not know this was the true colour of the Communists. Because of this intolerance and violence, the leftists have been pushed out of the mainstream,” the filmmaker said.

 

 

 

The film starts with a comment by former Kerala Chief Minister and CPM leader VS Achuthanandan vouching that Love Jihad is a reality and Islamists have adopted this method to convert Kerala into an Islamic State. Former Kerala Chief Minister and Congress leader Oommen Chandy also presents his opinion.

 

Sudipto said that so many girl students approached him and requested to conduct a screening again on the campus. “I will screen the movie again on the campus. There was a huge gathering to watch the movie. As a filmmaker, I have to do justice to them. The date of the exhibition will be declared later,” he said.

 

To protest the leftist violence, Vivekananda Vichar Manch organises a march “Save JNU form Left Lumpen” on April 28, at 9.30 pm at JNU, from Chandrabhaga to Sabarmati Dhaba.