New Delhi: Amid the controversy over BBC's documentary on Gujarat 2002 riots and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday took on the “malicious campaigns” inside and outside India, saying that some people “consider the BBC above the Supreme Court of India”.
“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,” Rijiju tweeted.
Taking to Twitter, the Union Minister alleged that they “lower” the country’s dignity and image to any extent to “please their moral masters”.
“Some people in India still haven’t gotten over the colonial intoxication. They consider BBC above the Supreme Court of India and lower the country’s dignity and image to any extent to please their moral masters,” the Minister wrote in Hindi.
“Anyway, there is no better hope from these tukde tukde gang members whose only aim is to weaken the might of India,” Rijiju tweeted.
The Opposition Parties, on the other hand, have come heavily on the Centre’s decision to block access to the documentary.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh uploaded a video clip of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee talking about ‘Rajdharm’ in presence of then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the aftermath of the 2002 riots.
Tweeting the video, Ramesh questioned Centre’s direction: “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?”
Responding to the Centre's decision, TMC MP Mahua Moitra tweeted, “Govt on war footing to ensure noone in India can watch a mere @BBC show. Shame that the emperor & courtiers of the world’s largest democracy are so insecure.”
Meanwhile, former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Sanjeev Tripathi slammed UK’s British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for its documentary, calling it “prejudiced, biased and full of factual errors”.
“This documentary of BBC, which claims to examine the so-called tensions between Hindus and Muslims in India, and in that context, talks about again the so-called controversial policies of Prime Minister Modi, is not only prejudiced but is also biased and full of factual errors,” he told ANI.