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Beef politics: JNU students resist security and ABVP protests to screen documentary

After permission for the screening was revoked at JNU, security guards from the entire campus were deployed at the hostel grounds.

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On Sunday night, authorities at the Jawaharlal Nehru University cancelled the screening of TISS documentary Caste On The Menu Card after members of the ABVP complained to the authorities. The screening, however, was eventually held after students clashed with security guards for over an hour.

Dilip of the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Student Association (BAPSA), the student organisation that organised the screening at JNU, said that permission was initially granted for a 9:30pm screening at Sabarmati hostel. "I got a call from the dean's office that the permission has been revoked after students from the ABVP registered their objections to the screening," he said.

The documentary on beef and how the politics around the meat has affected the livelihoods of people who are in the beef trade, was recently denied an exemption certificate for a screening organised by the Centre for Civil Society, necessary for public screenings, as "it might inflame sentiments", according to the ministry.

After permission for the screening was revoked at JNU, security guards from the entire campus were deployed at the hostel grounds. "We have been trying to talk the guards out of it. They are simply following orders. On the other hand, we also fight for the rights of the contractual guards because they are paid a pittance," said a student Varun.

Bijoy, a former member of the JNU students' union, said that the ABVP disruptions have become more regular after the NDA government came to power. "They simply complain and run away. How many ABVP students have you seen here? During the Afzal Guru talks, the 'Muzzaffar Nagar Baki Hai' screenings, they had tried to disrupt things. But eventually, we hold the talks or the screenings," he said. 

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