‘This is propaganda’: Students resist staging of Modi play at Kolkata college

The controversy over the Modi-centric play Namo Gatha has moved from Bengal’s schools to one of Kolkata’s better-known colleges, with students at Scottish Church College reportedly resisting instructions to stage the production.

The development comes days after schools across West Bengal staged another version of the play, titled Namo Seva: Ajana Kahini, as part of celebrations marking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 76th birthday and 25 years in public life. According to a report by Ei Samay, the script was sent to schools by the state education department, with students required to perform the play before fellow students.

The school production ended with a political and religious flourish. In the prescribed script, a character asks, "After 500 years of waiting, who built Ram Lalla’s temple?" The audience is expected to respond, ‘Modiji’, following which the character says, "Then everyone say it together, jai Shri Ram." Students in the audience are then required to chant ‘jai Shri Ram’.

The script also presents a favourable account of Modi’s political career, beginning with his handling of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and moving through his years as chief minister, the Vibrant Gujarat events, the 2014 change of government, surgical strikes, Article 370, Covid vaccination, digital payments and Operation Ganga during the Russia-Ukraine war. It also portrays Modi as having protected India’s oil supplies and economy during the West Asia crisis.

Teachers and headmasters at several schools had reportedly objected to the political content, with one headmaster telling Ei Samay that schools generally kept children away from political issues and that some of the dialogue might make students uncomfortable. The newspaper also reported numerous linguistic and grammatical errors in the Bengali script, prompting speculation that it may have been translated from Hindi using AI.

It is against this backdrop that the staging of the 50-minute production at Scottish Church College has run into resistance.

The instructions were reportedly shared on WhatsApp. The college, like other educational institutions, was expected to stage the play, record it and share the video. No deviation from the prescribed script was expected, which includes slogans such as ‘jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Modi hai toh mumkin hai’.

The play has to be staged before 10 October, when Modi is expected to visit Kolkata and participate in a grand function to herald the beginning of Durga Puja celebrations. Media reports have put the expenditure on the spectacle, which is expected to feature celebrity performers, at more than Rs 100 crore.

The event is also expected to mark the culmination in the state of the celebrations around Modi’s ‘25 years of public life’, which began with his birthday festivities on 17 September.

A report in Anandabazar Patrika on Saturday, 26 September reproduces an alleged exchange between students and a teacher representing the college management.

"No sir, we will not be able to stage this play."

"What do you mean? This is an instruction from the government."

"Theatre needs conviction and without that is it possible?"

"You are actors; why do you need conviction?"

"This is propaganda; none of us is willing."

"Who are they? Name them."

The report said some students had complained of being pressured by the college authorities to stage the play. They also reportedly told the newspaper that one student became so stressed that she had to be hospitalised.

A management spokesperson, however, said no student would be forced to participate. She said some of the college’s regular student theatre artistes had refused to take part, but maintained that there would be no difficulty in putting together the roughly 15 students required for the performance.

The regular theatre artistes were eventually persuaded to assist and train students who may not have acted before, the report said. A section of teachers and parents have also reportedly objected to what they described as a ‘cheap propaganda’ play.

College authorities have reportedly pleaded helplessness, saying the institution depends on government aid and assistance and that it was not possible to antagonise the authorities.

It is not clear who wrote the script, but it is known to have been shared by the West Bengal BJP, whose state president Shamik Bhattacharya is known for his literary interests.

It is also unclear whether the instructions included a mandatory invitation to a BJP leader. However, Anandabazar Patrika reported that a BJP legislator would attend the performance at Scottish Church College on Tuesday, 29 September.

The reported controversy has an added resonance at Scottish Church College, whose alumni include some of the most prominent names in Bengali theatre, including Badal Sircar, Manoj Mitra, Rudraprasad Sengupta and Keya Chakrabarty. Sengupta also taught at the college.

The episode therefore comes at a time when a production that has already drawn questions over its use of students, political messaging and the ‘jai Shri Ram’ chant is being taken into another educational setting — this time amid reported resistance from the very students expected to perform it.