BBC Documentary On PM Modi & Gujarat Riots Sparks Controversy In India And UK

New Delhi: A BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sparked controversy in India and the UK.

BBC’s two-part series called ‘India: The Modi Question’ raises questions about his leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots, when he was chief minister of the western state.

The series descriptor calls it 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.”

Strongly condemning the documentary, the Central government on Thursday said it was a “propaganda piece designed to push a discredited narrative” that shouldn’t be “dignified” with a response.

“Do note that this has not been screened in India. So, I am only going to comment in the context of what I have heard about it and what my colleagues have seen. 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, is blatantly visible,” said Foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.

“If anything, this film or documentary is a reflection on the agency and individuals that are peddling this narrative again. It makes us wonder about the purpose of this exercise and the agenda behind it and frankly we do not wish to dignify such efforts,” he continued.

In London, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, responding to a Pakistan-origin MP’s question in the British parliament, said he “doesn’t agree with the characterization” of PM Modi in the BBC series.

“He (PM Modi) was, in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s own words, directly responsible for this (Gujarat) violence. Given that hundreds were brutally killed and that families across India and the world, including here in the UK, are still without justice, does the prime minister agree with his diplomats in the foreign office that Modi was directly responsible and what more does the foreign office know of his involvement in this grave act of ethnic cleansing?” MP Imran Hussain asked.

Sunak retorted: “Mr Speaker, the UK government’s position on this has been clear and long standing and hasn’t changed. Of course, we don’t tolerate persecution anywhere, but I am not sure I agree at all with the characterisation the honourable gentleman has put forward.”