“Directions to block the clips from being shared have been issued using emergency powers”.
The Indian government instructed Twitter and YouTube to prevent the distribution of the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question. Multiple YouTube videos and related tweets have been ordered to be removed, and sharing clips from the documentary on social media is prohibited.
The two-part BBC documentary, which aired on January 17, 2023, focused on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his role in the horrific Gujarat riots of 2002.
Senior advisor at India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Kanchan Gupta tweeted on Saturday, “Directions to block the clips from being shared have been issued using emergency powers available to the government under the country’s information technology rules”.
Important
Videos sharing @BBCWorld hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage, disguised as ‘documentary’, on @YouTube and tweets sharing links to the BBC documentary have been blocked under India’s sovereign laws and rules.
n1— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) January 21, 2023
The two-part documentary has certainly shook the Indian government because it provides an eye-opening look at Prime Minister Modi and his Hindu nationalist party’s involvement in the atrocities committed during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
India: The Modi Question follows Modi’s rise as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician and his tenure as chief minister of Gujarat during a period of communal riots that killed thousands of Muslims.
One brave tweep managed to share snippets of the documentary on Twitter.
Subject: GUJARAT POGROM
▪️“Violence politically motivated
▪️“Aim was to purge Muslims from Hindu areas
▪️“Has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing
▪️“Narendra Modi directly responsible.”New BBC film reveals British govt report into 2002.
Watch: https://t.co/3DOiZu6eQY pic.twitter.com/PbUfCrc5yN
— churumuri (@churumuri) January 18, 2023
The events had “all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing,” according to a UK report. Jack Straw, the UK’s foreign secretary at the time, was also interviewed and stated that allegations against Narendra Modi harmed his reputation. He stated,
These were serious allegations, alleging that Chief Minister Modi had played an active role in withdrawing police and tacitly encouraging Hindu extremists. That was an especially egregious example.
Subject: GUJARAT POGROM
▪️“Violence politically motivated
▪️“Aim was to purge Muslims from Hindu areas
▪️“Has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing
▪️“Narendra Modi directly responsible.”New BBC film reveals British govt report into 2002.
Watch: https://t.co/3DOiZu6eQY pic.twitter.com/PbUfCrc5yN
— churumuri (@churumuri) January 18, 2023
The documentary featured the UK report which claimed that there widespread rape of Muslim women, and that the riots’ main objective was to “purge Muslims from Hindu areas”.
Subject: GUJARAT POGROM
▪️“Violence politically motivated
▪️“Aim was to purge Muslims from Hindu areas
▪️“Has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing
▪️“Narendra Modi directly responsible.”New BBC film reveals British govt report into 2002.
Watch: https://t.co/3DOiZu6eQY pic.twitter.com/PbUfCrc5yN
— churumuri (@churumuri) January 18, 2023
Despite the Indian government’s efforts to block the controversial documentary, netizens continue to call out Narendra Modi’s atrocities on social media, with hashtags such as #BBCDocumentary and #GujaratRiots trending. The second part of the BBC documentary will air on January 24th.
