Indian diaspora in UK to protest outside BBC headquarters in London on 29 January. AFP/Twitter@IndicSociety
London: The Indian diaspora in the UK will stage a protest outside the BBC headquarters in London to “raise awareness about the nefarious anti-India reportage” in its documentary on Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.
BBC’s two-part documentary on the Indian Prime Minister titled – ‘India: The Modi Question’ – has been banned in India. Last week, the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting directed YouTube and Twitter to take down the links sharing the docu-series.
Indians in UK to protest against BBC documentary on PM Modi
The Indian diaspora in Britain will be staging a protest on Sunday, 29 January, at 12 pm GMT (1:30 pm IST) outside the BBC headquarters in London. The Indians in the UK have asked others to join them to “demonstrate the dissatisfaction against their (BBC’s) biased reportage”.
The first episode of the BBC documentary on PM Modi was aired on 17 January and on the very next day, it was removed from YouTube. The second part of the series is scheduled to be broadcast today (24 January).
BBC documentary a ‘propaganda piece’
India’s foreign ministry [Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)] last week slammed BBC and termed the documentary a “propaganda piece” and said that “it has no objectivity.”
“… this is a propaganda piece, designed to push a particular discredited narrative. The bias, lack of objectivity and continuing colonial mindset is blatantly visible,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
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The documentary reportedly takes a critical look at the Indian Prime Minister, holding him responsible for 2002 Gujarat riots.
India govt uses ’emergency powers’
The Internet Archive, a US-based non-profit library, previously contained several uploads of the BBC documentary on PM Modi but after the Indian government’s order, the links have been pulled down. The message on the upload pages read: “This item is no longer available.”
The Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting passed order under the emergency provisions of the Information Technology Rules, 2021, and directed YouTube and Twitter to take down the links sharing the BBC documentary on PM Modi.
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The order was passed by the ministry for allegedly casting “aspersions on the authority and credibility of the Supreme Court of India, sowing divisions among various communities, and making unsubstantiated allegations regarding actions of foreign governments in India”.
Senior Indian government officials have termed the documentary as an “anti-India garbage”.
The documentary has been criticised with many in India accusing the makers of spreading falsehoods and looking at Indian issues from a colonial perspective.
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