India’s right-wing government used emergency powers to block the broadcast of a BBC documentary questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Call the BBC’s two-part series, India: The Modi Question, one “propaganda work”The government ordered Twitter to take down more than 50 tweets linking to the documentary while YouTube was instructed to block any uploads.
A screening of the documentary at one of India’s top universities on Tuesday was held being disrupted by the government, who allegedly cut off the electricity and internet lines of the student union office organizing the event. Indian media reported that students who were watching the film were stoned.
Similar screenings were also reported from other parts of the country, while opposition leaders, journalists and activists continued to share links to the BBC documentary on social media to despite government orders.
What happened in Gujarat in 2002?
At the end of 2001, Modi was appointed as prime minister of Gujarat state of India to resolve infighting within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Until then, he was a prominent member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the far-right ideological adviser of the BJP founded in 1925 along the lines of the European fascist parties at the time. RSS aims to create a Hindu nation state in India, where its 200 million Muslims will be second class citizens.
In February 2002, a train – carrying many Hindu pilgrims returning home from the temple town of Ayodhya in the state of Uttar Pradesh – caught fire, killing 59 people. While the state government led by Modi accused Muslim vendors at Godhra station of setting fire to the train, one 2006 report by a federal government-appointed commission concluded the fire was accidental.
As soon as news of the Godhra incident spread, Hindu mobs began raging through Muslim neighborhoods across Gujarat. More than 2,000 people, most of them are muslimkilled and dozens of women The rape turned out to be one of the worst religious massacres in Indian history, turning Gujarat into one of the religiously polarized nation.
Many foreign governments, including the UK, stopped working with Modi at the time, while the US imposed a travel ban on him.
But the carnage also earned Modi the title of “Hindu Hridaysamrat” (ruler of the hearts of Hindus) and elevated his stature in the RSS and BJP. He continued to rule Gujarat until 2014, the year he moved to New Delhi to assume the position of 15th prime minister of India.
What is the BBC series about?
The 59-minute documentary alleges that Modi, then the chief minister of Gujarat, ordered the police to turn a blind eye to the violence that had been going on for days.
The film cites a previously classified UK Foreign Office report citing unnamed sources as saying that Modi met with senior police officers and “ordered them not to interfere” in the attacks. attack on Muslims.
It also said the violence was “politically motivated” and the aim “was to purge Muslims from Hindu areas”.
It concluded that the riots could not have happened “without the atmosphere of reluctance created by the state government… Narendra Modi is directly responsible”.
India has banned a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 riots in the state of Gujarat.
The documentary highlights a report that Mr. Modi was “directly responsible” for the “climate of impunity” that facilitated the violence. pic.twitter.com/oI8WgHaNuv
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) January 23, 2023
In a statement the BBC released after India’s ban on the film, it said the documentary was “researched rigorously to the highest editorial standards”.
“The documentary series examines the tensions between the Hindu majority in India and the Muslim minority, and explores the political views of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding those tensions. This has been a source of considerable reporting and interest both in India and around the world in recent years,” it said.
The British broadcaster said it used “multiple voices, witnesses and experts” for the film, including “feedback from people within the BJP”.
“We have asked the Indian government to have the right to respond to the issues raised in this series – they have declined to respond,” it said.
Why does Modi want the movie not to be seen
Modi has repeatedly denied accusations that he failed to stop the riots in Gujarat.
A special investigative team appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate the role of Modi and others in the violence said in a 541-page report in 2012 that it could find no evidence to back up the claim. prosecute the prime minister at the time.
The following year, Modi was elected as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. He won the 2014 general election and returned in 2019 with a larger majority in parliament.
Since 2014, Modi’s BJP – and other right-wing groups affiliated with RSS – have ramped up their Hindu supremacy campaign, mainly targeting the country’s Muslims, the group the country’s largest minority.
Thus, a ban on screenings of films about the Gujarat riots by a reputable foreign media organization is only in line with the government’s attempt to dismiss any criticism of its agenda.
Modi’s supporters on social media called the BBC documentary “colonial” and “white” propaganda.
Arindam Bagchi, a spokesman for India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press conference last week: “The bias, lack of objectivity and straightforward continuation of colonial thinking is evident.
But Mohammad Sajjad, a history professor at India’s Aligarh Islamic University, told Al Jazeera he was “surprised at why Modi didn’t want Indians to see” the BBC film.
“After all, the federal interior minister issued a statement saying that Muslims were taught a lesson in Gujarat in 2002,” he said, calling the government ban “a big deal.” incomprehensible contradictions”.
“However, considering that Modi was really angry with the BBC documentary, the only logical reason could be that he wanted to create a certain image in front of the world.”
What are the reactions to India’s ban?
“ Wounds heal and human rights obligations are met when there is a genuine commitment to justice and reform. Instead, BJP supporters honored the men convicted of gang rape and murder during the 2002 riots.” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement in Monday.
The human rights group said the BJP’s ideology had “infiltrated the justice system and the media, empowering party supporters to threaten, harass and attack religious minorities, especially especially Muslims, with impunity.”
HRW said that since Mr. Modi became prime minister in 2014, “Indian officials and BJP supporters have worked hard to correct his image”.
“Internationally, Indian diplomats strongly oppose any criticism of Mr. Modi’s involvement in egregious human rights abuses,” it added.
The HRW statement said Modi had “seeked to shape international engagement with India around a strategic and development partnership”.
“But India’s image will be better served if the government does more to protect the rights of all Indians – and the rights of those who want to bring these issues to the attention of the public,” he said. it added.
Mr Modi’s government used emergency powers under its information technology law to block the BBC documentary and its clips from being shared on social media.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement Monday that the order “flagrantly contradicts the country’s stated commitment to democratic ideals”.
But scholar Sajjad thinks the document scandal will help the BJP “gain new and renewed reinforcement of ‘Hindu’ support for it”.
