'Has BBC Ever Had Courage to...': Uproar & Divided Opinions Over Documentary on PM Modi | Top Points

A documentary by BBC on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which questioned his leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots, has triggered massive uproar with a section of people slamming the UK broadcaster for documenting “lies” in a “propaganda piece”.

The central government on Saturday issued directions for blocking multiple videos to YouTube and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary – “India: The Modi Question”, according to sources.

The two-part BBC documentary to have investigated certain aspects relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state, has been trashed by the Ministry of External Affairs as a “propaganda piece” that lacked objectivity and reflected a “colonial mindset”.

malicious campaigns: Rijiju slams

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed the BBC documentary, saying India’s image cannot be disgraced with “malicious campaigns”. In a series of tweets in English and Hindi on Saturday and Sunday, he said minorities, or for that matter, every community in India is moving ahead positively.

“India’s image cannot be disgraced by malicious campaigns launched inside or outside India,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Modi’s voice is the voice of 1.4 billion Indians.

“Some people in India have still not gotten over the colonial hangover. They consider BBC above the Supreme Court of India and lower the country’s dignity and image to any extent to please their moral masters,” Rijiju said.

-Filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor Slams BBC

Renowned filmmaker Shekhar Kapur also was among those who slammed BBC over the documentary on PM Modi and asked if “BBC has ever had the courage to tell the truth about one of Britain’s most cherished icons”.

“I wonder if the #BBC has ever had the courage to tell the truth about one of Britain’s most cherished icons #winstonchurchill Largely responsible for the Bengal famine, causing starvation and death of millions. The first person to drop chemical bombs on those ‘tribals’ the Kurds,” Kapoor said.

-‘BBC Has History of Making Fake Documentaries’: Arun Pudur

Arun Pudur, a businessman who is quite active on Twitter with thousands of followers, wrote that BBC “has a history of making Fake documentaries based on lies and getting caught”.

Modi documentary is no different, he added in his tweet on January 20.

-TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Govt Censorship

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra took a jibe at Bharatiya Janata Party after the government blocked YouTube videos and Twitter posts that were critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the release of the BBC documentary. She even took to Twitter and said that “courtiers of the world’s largest democracy are insecure”.

On Saturday, Moitra wrote: Govt on war footing to ensure noone in India can watch a mere @BBC show. Shame that the emperor & courtiers of the world’s largest democracy are so insecure.” Moitra even tweeted with the link of the documentary.

-Directions To Block Issued By I&B Secy

The directions on blocking access were understood to have been issued by Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Friday using the emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021.

Sources said senior officials of several ministries, including external affairs, home affairs, and information and broadcasting, examined the documentary and found it to be an attempt to cast aspersions on the authority and credibility of the Supreme Court, sow divisions among various Indian communities, and make unsubstantiated allegations regarding actions of foreign governments in India.

-Opposition Accuses Modi of Censorship

While opposition parties like the Congress and the TMC criticised the Modi government for “censorship”, a group of 302 former judges, ex-bureaucrats and veterans slammed the BBC documentary as a “motivated charge sheet against our leader, a fellow Indian and a patriot” and a reflection of “dyed-in-the-wool negativity and unrelenting prejudice”.

In a statement, the former bureaucrats and others claimed the documentary is the archetype of past British imperialism in India setting itself up as both judge and jury to resurrect Hindu-Muslim tensions that were overwhelmingly the creation of the British Raj policy of divide and rule.

-Documentary A “Propaganda Piece”

Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs had described the BBC documentary as a “propaganda piece” that lacked objectivity and reflected a colonial mindset. The two-part BBC documentary claims it investigated certain aspects relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state.

“Let me just make it very clear that we think this is a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative. The bias, the lack of objectivity, and frankly a continuing colonial mindset, are blatantly visible,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi had said on Thursday responding to questions on the documentary.

(With PTI inputs)