Bengaluru, The ABVP on Sunday opposed the proposed screening of a documentary on activist Umar Khalid, at the NLSIU here.
“ABVP Bengaluru strongly condemns the proposed campus screening of Lalit Vachani’s documentary on Umar Khalid, ‘Prisoner No. 626710 is Present’, at the National Law School of India University ,” the organisation said. ABVP, the student organisation affiliated with the RSS, alleged that Khalid’s name had been associated with controversies over slogans during the 2016 JNU protests, Afzal Guru commemorations, the CAA-NRC protests and the Delhi riots.
It said educational campuses should focus on learning and national integrity rather than political propaganda. It urged the NLSIU administration to “immediately cancel all permissions” for the event, saying this was necessary to preserve the institutional integrity of the university. Bharadwaj also said academic freedom came with institutional responsibility and urged the university to reconsider the programme in the interest of its students and the values it represents.
Separately, advocate Girish Bharadwaj, in an email to the NLSIU Vice-Chancellor and Registrar on Saturday, also urged the university to cancel the proposed screening.
