“We do not deserve this,” said one of the protestors in London, staging demonstrations against the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Indian diaspora in the United Kingdom shared concerns about the BBC’s narrative, which could ‘create a rift between the Indian Hindu and Muslim communities’ based in England.
The protests in London came a week after the Indian government imposed a nationwide ban on the airing of the BBC documentary.
Deeming the BBC’s two-part series as a “propaganda piece designed to push a discredited narrative” the Centre blocked the BBC’s documentary titled ‘India: The Modi Question.’
Rebutting BBC’s take on the 2002 Gujarat riots and saying that their narrative was lopsided, Indians in hundreds gathered outside the BBC headquarters to carry out demonstrations on January 29.
Media quoted a protester saying, “The documentary is completely one-sided. They did not see both sides at all. They did not focus on why the riots started and how a train full of men, women and young children burned. There was no focus on the 300 to 400 Hindus who lost their lives. No mention at all of the 200 police officers who died.”
“The BBC has been doing this for a number of years. We sat quietly. We never said anything, but enough is enough. If this does not stop, we will stop paying our licence fee.”
“It’s a witch hunt against PM Narendra Modi, who was exonerated by the Supreme Court,” said a protester.
Meanwhile, the Indian community staging protests in London also questioned the timing of the documentary. They believed that since India is approaching general elections in 2024, the agenda behind the BBC documentary was to tarnish PM Modi’s image.
“Why now?” many protesters asked.
