Govt slams BBC documentary on PM Modi, calls it 'biased propaganda piece'
Darpan News Desk IANS, 19 Jan, 2023 11:29 AM
New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) The government on Thursday criticised a BBC series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming it "a biased propaganda piece".
"The documentary is a reflection on the agency that has made it. We think it is a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative. The bias, lack of objectivity and continuing colonial mindset are blatantly visible. Can't dignify such a film," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
The two-part BBC series "India: The Modi Question" has evoked sharp reactions.
The outline summary of the series says that it's "A look at tensions between Indian PM Narendra Modi and India's Muslim minority, investigating claims about his role in the 2002 riots that left over a thousand dead".
Last year in June, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, challenging a clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team to then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and several others in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The Supreme Court had said the case was "devoid of merits" and was filed "obviously, for ulterior design".
The Muslim side, on the last day of hearing in the Ayodhya title dispute on Wednesday, refuted the Hindu side's claim that the observation of a District Judge in 1886 was in their favour.
"Out of the 400 odd items that the industry makes, only one item - a single sound cracker - has been approved by PESO till date as the 'green' cracker for manufacture," the fire cracker maker, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IANS.
Intense back channel exercise by Indian side is underway to arrange a meeting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Pakistani coounterpart Imran Khan, a Pakistan media report claimed on Tuesday.
