BBC released the first part of its two-part documentary series titled India: The Modi Question on 17th January. It is currently banned from YouTube. The Internet Archive website that had a copy is also taken down. India has said that even the posting of any footage on social media is prohibited, and has so prevented the screening of a BBC documentary that questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Kanchan Gupta, a government adviser, posted on his Twitter account on Saturday that instructions to prevent the video from being disseminated had been given using emergency powers granted to the government under the nation’s information technology regulations. The documentary hasn’t been shown by the BBC in India, although certain YouTube channels have the film, according to Gupta.
The government has issued orders to Twitter to block over 50 tweets linking to the video of the documentary and YouTube has been instructed to block any uploads of the video, Gupta said. He said that Twitter and YouTube both followed the rules
The BBC program was described as a “propaganda piece” last week by a representative of India’s foreign ministry in order to forward a “discredited narrative.”
Students who had organised a screening of the documentary in JNU and Jamia Milia Islamia were met with force. Police detained students at Jamia Milia Islamia University before the screening could begin. Electricity was cut off at JNU preventing screening, the students, however, proceeded to watch from their personal devices.
The second part of the two-part documentary series was released on 25th January 2023 and is available as of now to watch on Internet Archive.
By – Veena
Bangalore Correspondent
WOM
