Last Updated: January 23, 2023, 11:48 AM IST
Former bureaucrats and others claimed the documentary is the archetype of past British imperialism (Image: REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File)
Several prominent BJP leaders and Union Ministers including Law Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed the controversial documentary saying India’s image cannot be disgraced with “malicious campaigns”
Ever since the British Broadcasting Company (BBC)’s documentary on 2002 Gujarat riots “India: The Modi Question” was released, it has landed itself in controversy with the Centre blocking the online links saying that even sharing of any clips via social media is barred.
The documentary questions Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership during the riots. Directions to block the clips from being shared have been issued using emergency powers available to the government under the country’s information technology rules.
Soon after, several opposition parties including Congress and TMC lashed out at BJP. TMC MPs Mahua Moitra and Derek O’Brien on Sunday shared the link to the controversial BBC documentary on Sunday challenging the government.
Here are top developments in the BBC Documentary Row:
- On January 20, the government had ordered social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links to the documentary titled “India: The Modi Question”, trashing it as a “propaganda piece” that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset.
- Several prominent BJP leaders and Union Ministers including Law Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed the controversial 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.
Some people in India have still not gotten over the colonial intoxication. 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. — Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) January 22, 2023
- With BJP openly criticising the documentary and even barring it from being accessed by Indians online, several opposition leaders like Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, TMC MPs Mahua Moitra and Derek O’Brein slammed the Centre.
- TMC MP Mahua Moitra said she will not accept “censorship” She posted a link to the documentary on her official handle stating -“Sorry, Haven’t been elected to represent the world’s largest democracy to accept censorship. Here’s the link. Watch it while you can.”
- In a fresh dig at BJP on Monday, Mahua Moitra took to Twitter and wrote, “BJP’s hypocrisy: It is perfectly ok for Law Minister to openly denigrate Supreme Court everyday, back ex- judge who says court hijacked constitution. But citizens watching a BBC show are accused of disrespecting SC!” Earlier, she also shared a list of Twitter links “blocked” on the government’s direction.
- Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday attacked the BJP saying that the party could not stomach the ‘truth’ documented by the UK’s national broadcaster. Calling the BJP government at the Centre fascist, Chowdhury said India needs a secular and a more tolerant government, an YEARS report said.
- A Supreme Court-appointed investigation had found no evidence of wrongdoing by PM Modi, who was chief minister of Gujarat when the riots broke out in February 2002.
- Centre has issued orders to Twitter to block over 50 tweets linking to the video of the documentary and YouTube has been instructed to block any uploads of the video, a Reuters report said.
- Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat when it was gripped by communal riots that left more than 1,000 people dead, by government count.
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