BBC documentary on Modi; British Govt's tightrope walk

On January 25 the second part of the BBC documentary on Modi's role in the 2002 Gujarat riots was aired. It examines Prime Minister Modi’s relationship with the Muslim community. The programme provoked the ire of the Government of India. The programme was banned in India. This has not prevented the BBC either from showing the documentary or being inundated with wrathful emails from Hindu nationalists.

'India: Modi Question' showed a confidential British Foreign Office report from 2002. It says that Modi’s attitude of impunity towards the perpetrators of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat when he was chief minister of the state, caused the deaths of over 1 000 Muslims.

The documentary shows scenes of lone Muslims being assaulted for allegedly selling beef. It features testimony from the widow of a Muslim who was murdered by an anti-Muslim mob.

There are many recordings of irate and incendiary anti-Muslim rhetoric. There is footage of Shri Modi speechifying before ecstatic crowds.

There are Britishers who applauded the BBC for making and broadcasting the documentary. Muslim Britons tend to think that the Modi administration and the BJP have had far too easy a ride in the British media. They say that the BBC and the British media in general have focused on the iniquities of Muslim movements and the governments of Islamic states. Therefore, the Britannic Mohammedan community find it refreshing that the BBC examines Islamophobia now.

The Indian High Commission to the United Kingdom has complained. His Majesty’s Government says that there is free speech in the UK, and it has no legal authority to forbid the broadcast of a documentary.

The British Broadcasting Corporation is an independent trust. But it is licensed by the UK Government which could therefore revoke the licence. Moreover, the chairman of the BBC is appointed by the Prime Minister. The current Chairman of the BBC is Richard Sharp who was appointed by Boris Johnson when he was Prime Minister. This is highly controversial since it has come to light that Richard Sharp arranged for Johnson to get a GBP 800,000 loan just before Johnson nominated him as BBC Chairman. Johnson and Sharp both told the BBC and the UK Parliament that they had no financial relationship with each other. Mr Sharp was a banker with no media experience. Why on earth did Boris Johnson think that Richard Sharp was the right man to run the BBC? Was it because of the loan?

It is a rich irony that this documentary came out when the UK has its first-ever Hindu Prime Minister. Rishi Sunak did not comment on the programme. In Prime Minister’s Question time on 25 January, no one asked him anything about the programme.

The UK Government really wanted cordial relations with India. The British Government wants a new trade agreement with India. Moreover, the UK would like India to be less friendly with Russia. This programme comes at exactly the wrong time for Britain. However, it underscores how free the British media is.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have castigated Mr Modi for decades. Amnesty International was founded in the United Kingdom but exists in most countries. It tends to applaud documentaries that shine a light on human rights abuses.

The average Briton knows precious little about Indian domestic politics. Many could not name the Prime Minister of India. The UK is beset by numerous internal problems such as inflation, strikes, health service waiting lists and rising energy costs. Therefore, the intricacies of Indian politics are something that does not concern most Britishers. Only those who have South Asian ancestry tend to be fascinated by the anfractuosities of Indian affairs.

The author is a political analyst from the UK. He can be watched on YouTube: George from Ireland