#Politics | Attacks on BBC by BJP, supporters: ‘Propaganda, biased, imperialistic, anti-Modi’

Hitting out at the broadcaster, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said every community in India was moving ahead under PM Modi’s leadership. “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. PM @narendramodi Ji’s voice is the voice of 1.4 billion Indians,” he wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

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. PM @narendramodi Ji’s voice is the voice of 1.4 billion Indians.https://t.co/taaF1nvD6F

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) January 21, 2023

Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar, on Friday, had said that attempts were being made to defame Modi via BBC. “We strongly condemn such a documentary about our PM, who has already attained global acclaim,” he told reporters on Friday, adding that the Opposition had for two decades “maligned Modi’s image” over the communal riots that took place in Gujarat when he was the chief minister.

“The Opposition has fallen flat on its face… Now, attempts are being made to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the BBC,” he said.

The Opposition leaders attacked the Centre and the BJP for what was shown in the documentary, as well as the government’s order to take it down.

Following the Centre’s move to take down the YouTube videos and tweets, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh on Saturday tweeted: “PM and his drumbeaters assert that the new BBC documentary on him is slanderous. Censorship has been imposed… Then why did PM Vajpayee want his exit in 2002, only to be pressured not to insist by the threat of resignation by Advani?… Why did Vajpayee remind him of his ‘raj dharma’?”

The Congress leader also attached a video clip of Vajpayee talking about “raj dharma” with Modi, then the Gujarat CM, sitting next to him.

PM and his drumbeaters assert that the new BBC documentary on him is slanderous. Censorship has been imposed. Then why did PM Vajpayee want his exit in 2002, only to be pressurised not to insist by the threat of resignation by Advani? Why did Vajpayee remind him of his rajdharma? pic.twitter.com/wwUkDQvlXi

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) January 21, 2023

Congress MP K C Venugopal on Friday tweeted: “Narendra Modi is still scared of the truth about 2002 coming out 21 years later. The blocking of the BBC documentary that squarely blames him for the pogrom is a cowardly, undemocratic act, one that clearly shows Modi’s dictatorial attitude.”

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien said a tweet by him on the documentary had been deleted by the microblogging site. He shared an e-mail, purportedly addressed to him from Twitter, which said his tweet was deleted at the request of the Indian government that claimed it violated the country’s laws.

“CENSORSHIP. @Twitter @TwitterIndia HAS TAKEN DOWN MY TWEET of the #BBCDocumentary, it received lakhs of views,” O’Brien tweeted. Claiming that the one-hour documentary “exposed how PM @narendramodi HATES MINORITIES”, the parliamentarian further said: “See flimsy reason given. The opposition will continue to fight the good fight (sic).”

CENSORSHIP@Twitter @TwitterIndia HAS TAKEN DOWN MY TWEET of the #BBCDocumentary, it received lakhs of views

The 1 hr @BBC docu exposes how PM @narendramodi HATES MINORITIES

Here’s👇the mail I recieved. Also see flimsy reason given. Oppn will continue to fight the good fight pic.twitter.com/8lfR0XPViJ

— Derek O’Brien | ডেরেক ও’ব্রায়েন (@derekobrienmp) January 21, 2023

On Saturday, after news emerged of a government order asking that the documentary be taken down, a group of 302 former judges, ex-bureaucrats and veterans issued a statement slamming the documentary as a “motivated charge sheet against our leader, a fellow Indian and a patriot” and a reflection of the BBC’s “dyed-in-the-wool negativity and unrelenting prejudice”.

They claimed it is “the archetype of past British imperialism in India setting itself up as both judge and jury” to resurrect Hindu-Muslim tensions.

Former Rajasthan High Court chief justice Anil Deo Singh, former home secretary L C Goyal, former foreign secretary Shashank, former RAW chief Sanjeev Tripathi and former NIA director Yogesh Chander Modi are among the signatories to the letter.

“BBC’s ‘India: The Modi Question’: Delusions of British Imperial Resurrection? Not this time. Not with our leader. Not with India. Never on our watch,” they said. Their statement alleged that the BBC series reeks of motivated distortion that is “as mind-numbingly unsubstantiated as it is nefarious”.

It is time to let the BBC know that India does not need “colonial, imperialistic, somnambulistic outsiders” whose primary claim to fame has been divide and rule under the British Raj to teach Indians how to live together in unity, the statement said.

“Inclusion is inherent in India. Instead of making a documentary titled, ‘India: The Modi Question‘, the BBC should begin by questioning their own bias against Prime Minister Modi and make a documentary called, ‘BBC: The Ethical Question’.”

(With inputs from PTI)