The BBC documentary The Modi Question, which was released in January of this year, received harsh condemnation from Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at the state assembly meeting in Guwahati. The Assam assembly earlier yesterday approved a resolution condemning BBC. According to the chief minister, the claims made in the program are unfounded, and a settlement is being sought against the British broadcaster.
Sarma also questioned the timing of the documentary’s publication, asserting that it was inadvertently made public while delegates were in Assam for the G20 summit.
The documentary looked into PM Modi’s participation in the riots in Gujarat in 2002, while he was the state’s chief minister. It is a two-part documentary that aired on 24 January right before Republic Day. The central government said that the documentary is a “propaganda work” intended to malign the prime minister and the country internationally. Earlier, the documentary generated uproar among political parties, with opposition parties supporting the British broadcaster.
The federal government has also prohibited the documentary from airing in India and limited the sharing of links to the video on Twitter and other social media platforms. Several students were detained when they tried to air the documentary publicly. Many students from Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi University, and JNU were detained when they aired the documentary on campus.
Though the British Broadcaster says that everything that they showed in the documentary was evidence-based but the government believes otherwise and claims that all the allegations made in the documentary were baseless and a conspiracy to defame PM Modi ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
On Tuesday, a resolution was passed denouncing the BBC’s slanderous program that sought to discredit India, which is rapidly becoming a major global player.
Sarma also stated that those accountable should face harsh punishment.