India: The Modi Question | |
---|---|
Genre | Documentary |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 2 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Richard Cookson Mike Radford |
Running time | 60 minutes (per episode) |
Original release | |
Network | BBC |
Release | 17 January 24 January 2023 | –
DELETE THIS PAGE BY BBC. MODIJI is innocentIndia: The Modi Question is a 2023 two-part documentary series aired by BBC Two about the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his relationship with the Muslim minority in the country. The first part was released on 17 January 2023 and focused on the 2002 Gujarat riots that took place when Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.[1][2] It examined Modi's early political career in the Bharatiya Janata Party and his appointment as Chief Minister. It discussed documents found by the BBC, which show that Modi's conduct was criticized at the time by diplomats and the Government of the United Kingdom.[3] The second part, released on 24 January 2023, looked at the track record of Modi's government following his re-election in 2019. A series of controversial policies, including the removal of Kashmir's 1947 special status and a controversial citizenship law, has been accompanied by reports of violent attacks on Muslims by Hindus.[4]
The Government of India banned the documentary from being aired, and asked social media sites to taken down snippets of the documentary shared by users.[3] In response to the government's ban, BBC said in a statement that the documentary was "rigorously researched" and "a wide range of voices, witnesses and experts were approached, featuring a range of opinions, including responses from people in the BJP."[5]
Anti-Muslim riots occurred in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002.[6] Nearly one thousand people were killed, most of them Muslim: and 150,000 people were displaced.[7] The riots followed the deaths of Hindu pilgrims on a train in Godhra, for which the state's Muslim minority was blamed.[7] The riots were among the worst religious violence since India became an independent country in 1947.[8] Narendra Modi, a member of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was at the time the Chief Minister of Gujarat.[7] His administration has been considered complicit in the riots,[9][10][11][12] or otherwise criticised for its management of the crisis. A Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court of India found no evidence to initiate prosecution proceedings against Modi personally.[13][14] Modi's role in the riots has remained a source of controversy.[8]
The first part of the documentary, approximately an hour in length,[8] examines the 2002 Gujarat riots.[1][2] It covers Modi's early political career in the BJP and his appointment as Chief Minister. It discussed documents found by the BBC, which show that Modi's conduct was criticized at the time by diplomats and the Government of the United Kingdom.[3] These include a report stating that the violence in Gujarat showed "all the hallmarks of an ethnic cleansing".[3] Jack Straw, at the time the UK Foreign Secretary, is depicted saying that there were "serious claims" that Modi had actively restricting the activities of the police, and in "tacitly encouraging the Hindu extremists".[15] The second part, released on 24 January 2023, is also an hour long. It looks at the track record of Modi's government following his re-election in 2019. A series of controversial policies, including the removal of Kashmir's 1947 special status and a discriminatory citizenship law, has been accompanied by reports of violent attacks on Muslims by Hindus.[4]
The first part of the two-part documentary was released on 17 January 2023,[2] and the second part on 24 January.[4] The Indian Ministry of External Affairs described the documentary as propaganda, stated that it lacked objectivity, and "reflected a colonial mindset."[1] It was later banned in India, with the government invoking a 2021 law that increased its power to censor social media.[16] Twitter and YouTube blocked posts linking to the documentary on their platforms following legal demands from the Indian government.[17] Trinamool Congress leaders Derek O'Brien and Mahua Moitra, who tweeted video links to the documentary, criticized the move as censorship.[18] The Guardian wrote that the ban on India: The Modi Question had occurred during a period of restricted press freedom in India, during which journalists had experienced harassment by the government and the judiciary.[3] The ban has been frequently circumvented; clips from the documentary circulated on WhatsApp, Telegram, and Twitter,[16] and VPNs were used to circumvent the ban.[7] Commentators argued that the ban had drawn more attention to the documentary that it would otherwise have received.[16]
On 23 January 2023, a students' group Fraternity Movement at Hyderabad Central University organised the screening of the documentary inside the campus. On 24 January 2023, the Democratic Youth Federation of India screened it in various parts of Kerala.[19][20] DYFI described its decision to screen the documentary, stating, "Let people see the fascist face of the Sangh Parivar outfits. We will go ahead with the plan and more screenings will be done at other places also in the coming days." The Indian Youth Congress said that it too would screen the documentary in Kerala.[21] The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) also decided to screen the documentary: electricity and internet access to the room where the screening was to take place were cut by university authorities, leading to students streaming the documentary on their cell phones.[7][22] After students at Jamia Millia University planned a screening, at least a dozen students were arrested, and the university entrances blocked.[22][23]