Union government of India led by Prime Minister Modi blocks Twitter, YouTube links sharing BBC series on PM Modi
The Union government has taken this extreme step has blocked the BBC document series on PM Modi, attacking his tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat during the 2002 riots, which had sparked a row.
The move came a day after Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi deemed access to the BBC’s two-part series as a ‘propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative’.
The BBC’s documentary titled ‘India: The Modi Question’ consisted of PM Modi’s (then Gujarat CM) quizzing by a BBC reporter who asked the state leadership about the 2002 Gujarat riots and the alleged ethnic mob violence that ensued.
The violence broke out allegedly after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims in Godhra was set ablaze. The violence caused casualties, resulting in more than a thousand deaths and hundreds of crimes.
As per sources, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos which published the first episode of the BBC Documentary.
They said that orders were also issued to Twitter for blocking over 50 tweets pertaining to the link to the BBC series. The directions were given by the secretary of the I&B Ministry.
It is learnt Both YouTube and Twitter have complied with the directions, sources said.
Taking to Twitter, an advisor to the I&B Ministry, Kanchan Gupta, shared the update, stating, “BBC’s vile propaganda was found to be undermining the sovereignty and integrity of India, and having the potential to adversely impact India’s friendly relations with foreign countries as also public order within the country.”
He tweeted the update and also mentioned that the BBC had not released the document series in India and that certain YouTube channels uploaded the content ‘to promote the anti-India agenda’. “YT has been instructed to block the video if uploaded again,” Gupta said.
It is notable that the documentary “India: The Modi Question” was aired on BBC Two, a channel which is not available in India. The channel is available only in the UK, Ireland, and some European countries. he added
It is not even available on the internet outside those countries, and therefore it can’t be streamed too in India. This means, those who uploaded the video to YouTube did it illegally, and it was a copyright violation Gupta said
