Kolkata: Girls were allegedly molested and BJP actor-turned-politician Roopa Ganguly was not allowed to enter the Jadavpur University premises when rival groups of students clashed over the screening of Vivek Agnihotri-directed political film ‘Buddha in a Traffic Jam’ yesterday night.
According to varsity officials, students from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Left-backed student unions fought with each other over the campus screening of the film.
Alleging that 4 of the organisers had molested female students, the left-leaning students affiliated to Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students' Union (FETSU) confined them inside the campus.
"The students had isolated four of them inside the campus following the incident. I have handed them to the police. There were some outsiders also. The students said they molested some girls," University Vice Chancellor Suranjan Das said.
A senior varsity official said the four youths were outsider and FIR is being lodged against them. BJP leader Roopa Ganguly also rushed to the campus but was stopped at the gate by the police.
As soon as the director reached the campus, he was shown black flags and placards by the students of university asking him to go back. The filmmaker, on the other hand, claimed that he was manhandled and gheraoed by some students and even the glass pane of his car was left shattered in the commotion.
The agitating students said they have nothing against the screening of the film, but were protesting against the divisive content in it, which also stars Anupam Kher. "We all know Kher's views in the whole debate on whatever happened in JNU. He is acting in this film which has divisive content. We are protesting against that," Sounak Mukherjee, a first year MA student of English Department, said.
However, university authorities cancelled the screening after they learnt that the students were gathering to stage a protest. But the producers went ahead with the screening at an open-air space in the campus claiming they have support from another group of students.
"The students arranged a bed sheet and turned it into a screen to see my film. Many watched it and realised it's not what they were thinking. It is a realistic film," the director said.
Even as the screening was going on in the evening, after classes were over, the agitators carried on with demonstration near the spot.
Asked why there were protests against his film, Agnihotri said, “Because for the first time in 70 years somebody has dared to expose the Naxal-academia-intellectuals-media nexus.”
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