Not Familiar With It, Familiar With Shared Values With India: US On BBC Documentary On PM Modi

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that he is familiar with the shared values that enact the United States and India as two thriving and vibrant democracies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price

Source : PTI | Twitter

New Delhi: The United States has responded to the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that it is not familiar with it, but familiar with the shared values with India. 

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price made the comments while responding to a media query on the controversial BBC documentary, reported ANI. 

He said, "I'm not familiar with the documentary you're referring to, however, I am very familiar with the shared values that enact the United States and India as two thriving and vibrant democracies."  

"When we have concerns about actions that are taken in India, we've voiced those we've had an occasion to do that," he added. 

While addressing a press briefing on Monday, Price said that there are numerous elements, including political, economic and exceptionally deep people-to-people ties, that bolster the US' global strategic partnership with India. 

"We look to everything that ties us together, and we look to reinforce all of those elements that tie us together," he said while underlining the diplomatic ties between the US and India. 

Ned Price emphasised on the values shared by the two nations that are common to American democracy and to Indian democracy. 

"I'm not aware of this documentary that you point to, but I will say broadly, is that there are a number of elements that undergird the global strategic partnership that we have with our Indian partners. There are close political ties, there are economic ties, there are exceptionally deep people-to-people ties between the United States and India. But one of those additional elements are the values that we share the values that are common to American democracy and to Indian democracy," he added. 

The statement comes a week after UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi and distanced himself from the BBC documentary series. He said that he "doesn't agree with the characterisation" of his Indian counterpart. 

"The UK government's position on this has been clear and longstanding and hasn't changed, of course, we don't tolerate persecution where it appears anywhere but I am not sure I agree at all with the characterisation that the honourable gentleman has put forward to," Sunak said while responding on the BBC documentary. 

The BBC aired a two-part series on the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was the Gujarat Chief Minister during the 2002 Gujarat riots. 

India Blocks Access To BBC Documentary

The Indian government on Saturday 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.   

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.   

 Earlier, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi termed the documentary as ‘biased’ and ‘with a colonial mindset’.