BBC Documentary On PM Modi “Propaganda Piece”, “Colonial Mindset”: India

The government today denounced a BBC documentary series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “biassed propaganda” that shouldn’t receive a “dignified” response.

“The documentary is a reflection on the agency that has made it. We think it is a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative. The bias, lack of objectivity and continuing colonial mindset are blatantly visible. Can’t dignify such a film,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.

The two-part “India: The Modi Question” series from the BBC has drawn vehement criticism.

“A look at tensions between Indian PM Narendra Modi and India’s Muslim minority, investigating claims about his role in the 2002 riots that left over a thousand dead,” says the series descriptor.

No proof of any misconduct by PM Modi, who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time of the riots, was discovered by an investigation ordered by the Supreme Court. In a report written ten years after the riots, the Special Investigation Team cleared PM Modi, finding “no prosecutable evidence.” The Supreme Court granted PM Modi approval in June of last year and said that the lawsuit was “devoid of substance” and that it had been brought “clearly, for ulterior design.”

When a local court exonerated him in 2013 of any involvement in one of the largest atrocities that took place during the riots, Prime Minister Modi wrote on Facebook: “Satyameva Jayate (the truth wins)”.

You cannot see the BBC documentary in India. The foreign ministry stated, “It makes us wonder about the motivation behind it.

Several people, including Lord Rami Ranger of the UK House of Lords, have accused the BBC of reporting with bias.

The BBC says the series will examine how “Narendra Modi’s premiership has been dogged by persistent allegations about the attitude of his government towards India’s Muslim population” and “a series of controversial policies” implemented by PM Modi after his re-election in 2019, including “the removal of Kashmir’s special status guaranteed under Article 370” and “a citizenship law that many said treated Muslims unfairly”, which “has been accompanied by reports of violent attacks on Muslims by Hindus.”

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