West tries to tarnish image of PM Narendra Modi through BBC documentary: Report

New Delhi, India: The two-part documentary released by BBC News – “India: The Modi Question,” which claimed to show some aspects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Gujarat riots 2002, has been facing criticism worldwide. Many have called it a “propaganda piece,” reflecting a colonial mindset. According to reports, the documentary on PM Modi has been released by anti-Modi and anti-Indian lobbies situated in the UK.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been regarded as one of the strongest political leaders, and there is nothing to be discovered about him as he is already known across the world. He has been representing the Asian country for around nine years, and during this span, he has been surrounded by countless controversies. He and his political party – Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), has been castigated for lynchings, the Citizenship Amendment Act, the Delhi Riots, Farmers’ Agitation, the revision of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and many more.

Not only this, he has faced many questions related to the Gujarat riots, which now seems meaningless as all that needed to be investigated has already been done by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the year 2012. The team was set by the Supreme Court of India. Following the investigation by SIT, the SC released a 452-page judgment in the year 2022, pardoning PM Modi for any wrongdoing.

Now, the majority has been raising questions on purpose behind the release of the documentary on PM Modi. It has faced criticism from the government of India, which has emphasised how this issue suddenly became so important to highlight. According to reports, the British news organisation has no definite evidence against Prime Minister Modi because of which words like “reportedly,” “allegedly”, and “it was widely reported” are used while filming the piece.

“The documentary had the intent to tarnish the image of the Prime Minister of India, despite an order by SC,” a report claimed. According to a publication, BBC directed this documentary on half-baked, superficial, politically motivated enquiries, despite surveying the judgement by the Supreme Court of India. It further claimed that the lack of diligent research shows that the objective behind the documentary was to revive the old wounds, promotion of Hindu-Muslim riots and foment the communal divide in India.

The documentary was released by BBC news during the times when India, under the leadership of PM Modi, was regarded as one of the most advanced economies in the world. India has emerged victorious in the digital revolution and has gathered praise from many international personalities for its ability to vaccinate its billion-plus efficiently. India has been touching new heights after overtaking the United Kingdom as the fifth-largest economy in the world. It is worth noting that Prime Minister Modi has been representing India as never before after becoming president of G20.

After seeing the success of a cultural country like India, the west conspired as it was afraid to lose its position as a global leader. It is evident that the western powers attempted to damage the image of India and its people as the country has been emerging as one of the most progressive countries worldwide. India has been directly or indirectly contributing towards the larger economies under the leadership of PM Modi.

It has been asserted by a report that the aim of this attack on PM Modi is to destabilise Rishi Sunak, the Indian-origin Hindu prime minister of the United Kingdom. Actually, India had the same expectations for Sunak as it did for Boris Johnson. India is conscious that Sunak will need to exercise caution so as not to appear to be favouring India excessively. However, his answer to a tirade against Modi in the House of Commons by a British MP of Pakistani descent who quoted from the documentary was woefully inadequate.

Some of the reports have also blamed UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for losing the opportunity to contain the damaging fallout of the documentary. A report outlined that the UK PM must be obliged that a confidential internal report was leaked by the UK Foreign Office on the Gujarat Riots. “Sunak could have spoken positively about India-UK ties, said India was a valuable partner with which the UK intended to strengthen its ties as envisaged in the 2030 Road Map etc.,” the report outlined.

According to the latest reports by the Indian media, the government of India has announced to block videos and tweets related to the documentary by BBC News. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry of India, under the emergency powers of the ministry under 2021 IT Rules, has issued orders against multiple YouTube videos and Twitter links showing the first episode of the documentary by BBC. The broadcasting channel has not uploaded the documentary in India; however, some YouTube channels uploaded it, following which the government asked the social media platform to block such videos.

After announcing the orders, senior officials of several ministries of India stated that they had examined the documentary and found that it had attempted to cast aspersions on the authority as well as the credibility of the Supreme Court of India.

Hence, various reports and ministers have concluded that West powers started propaganda against India for being progressive and planned to tarnish the image of the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, who has been emerging as a great global leader.