New Delhi: The Indian government has issued directions for blocking multiple videos and tweets sharing links to the BBC’s controversial documentary “India: The Modi Question”. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued orders for blocking multiple YouTube videos of the first episode of the BBC Documentary on PM Modi and the 2002 Gujarat Riots. It also asked Twitter to block over 50 tweets with links to these YouTube videos.
The directions were issued on Friday under the emergency powers of the ministry under IT Rules, 2021. As per the information, both YouTube and Twitter have complied with the directions.
The contentious documentary has not been made available in India by BBC, but some YouTube channels uploaded it. The government has instructed YouTube to block the video if uploaded again.
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Sharing the information on Twitter, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Kanchan Gupta on Saturday said that the documentary is ‘hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage’.
He mentioned that multiple ministries including the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs examined the ‘malicious documentary’.
“They found that it is casting aspersions on the authority and credibility of the Supreme Court of India, sowing divisions among various Indian communities, and making unsubstantiated allegations,” Gupta mentioned.
He said that BBC World’s “vile propaganda was found to be undermining the sovereignty and integrity of India, and having the potential to adversely impact India's friendly relations with foreign countries as also public order within the country”.
Earlier, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi termed the documentary as ‘biased’ and ‘with a colonial mindset’.
“The bias, the lack of objectivity, and frankly a continuing colonial mindset, is blatantly visible. 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 said during a media briefing.
Responding to India’s sharp criticism, the BBC in an official statement said that the programme was “rigorously researched according to highest editorial standards”.
“A wide range of voices, witnesses and experts were approached, and we have featured a range of opinions, including responses from people in the BJP [Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party],” it stated. The statement added that it had offered the Indian government an opportunity to reply to the matters raised in the series, but the government declined.