A BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stoked a controversy, with the Centre moving to block access to the series.
New Delhi,UPDATED: Jan 22, 2023 21:25 IST
The government has blocked access to a controversial BBC documentary on PM Modi. (PTI photo)
By India Today Web Desk: As the Centre blocked the two-part BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the opposition parties lashed out at the government, terming the move “censorship”.
The BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question” claims it investigated certain aspects relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state.
The government called it a “propaganda piece” and reportedly issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the documentary. Meanwhile, several Congress and Trinamool Congress leaders have attacked the government over the move.
Here are the top developments in the BBC documentary row:
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The Congress continued its attack against the Centre over the blocking of airing of the controversial BBC series. Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh claimed that if the BBC had a headquarters somewhere in India, the present Narendra Modi-led government would have ordered a CBI and ED raid against it.
“There is a scheme by the Indian government called ‘block in India’. If the BBC was headquartered somewhere in India, the Modi government would have sent ED, CBI, and DRI to their office. Vajpayee Ji (former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee) had asked Modi Ji to follow ‘Raj dharma‘. You cannot hide the truth by blocking (the BBC series), such actions compel the public to believe that the content in the documentary was the truth. Your actions are telling us that you’re scared,” Congress’s Gourav Vallabh said.
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Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra slammed the government over the alleged censorship. “Shame that the emperor and courtiers of the world’s largest democracy are so insecure,” Mahua Moitra said.
The Trinamool Congress leader shared an archived link of the BBC documentary, adding that she “has not been elected to represent world’s largest democracy to accept censorship”.
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Meanwhile, even as the Opposition criticised the government over “imposition of censorship”, Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday hit out at the Opposition, adding that “nothing better could be expected from these tukde tukde gang members.”
“Some people in India still haven’t 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,” the Union minister tweeted on Sunday.
“Anyway, nothing better can be expected from these tukde tukde gang members whose only aim is to weaken the might of India,” he added.
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BJP leader Amit Malviya accused the Opposition of trying to “politicise the unfortunate Gujarat riots”.
“In the last several years, the Opposition parties, especially the Congress, have tried to politicise the unfortunate Gujarat riots. However, despite all their attempts to extract political mileage out of the riots, Prime Minister Modi stands vindicated in the Supreme Court and the court of the people,” Amit Malviya was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
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Amidst the ongoing row over the BBC documentary, a UK lawmaker referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “one of the most powerful persons on the planet”.
During a Parliament debate, UK lawmaker Lord Karan Bilimoria mentioned, “As a boy, Narendra Modi sold tea at his father’s tea stall at a railway station in Gujarat. Today he is one of the most powerful people on this planet as Prime Minister of India.”
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