Banned BBC Documentary on PM Modi Screened in Kerala by Congress

The controversial BBC documentary on PM Modi, which has been banned in India, was screened in Thiruvananthapuram by Kerala’s Congress unit. This was among several other events organized by several opposition parties and free-speech activists. The two-part documentary has been screened in Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chandigarh.

The BBC documentary called ‘India: The Modi Question’ covers PM Modi’s politics during the 2002 Gujarat riots. It was released earlier this month and swiftly banned from being screened in India by the central government. However, protest screenings of the two-part documentary have been taking place in Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chandigarh. Now, the Congress unit in Kerala has screened the documentary in Thiruvananthapuram.

In Kerala, veteran leader AK Antony’s son Anil K Antony left the party recently after calling the BBC documentary a “dangerous precedent.” Congress leader and Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, said, “[Are] our national security and sovereignty so fragile to be affected by a documentary?” He called Antony’s comment about the documentary “immature.”

The first part of the documentary came out on January 17 for the UK audience and was banned from screening in India. However, protest screenings have already taken place in Delhi, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. In Chandigarh, a screening was organized by the Congress student wing NSUI. The documentary looks back at 2002 when Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Western Gujarat state and more than 1,000 people lost their lives in anti-Muslim riots.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is currently in Jammu and Kashmir as part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra also supported the protest screenings of the documentary and said that the truth has a way of coming out no matter how much it is oppressed. “Truth shines bright. It has a nasty habit of coming out. So, no amount of banning, oppression, and frightening people is going to stop the truth from coming out,” he said.

The documentary was called a “propaganda piece designed to push a particularly discredited narrative” by India’s Foreign Ministry. It said that there is a lack of objectivity and that it contains “bias” and “a continuing colonial mindset.” In response, the BBC said in a statement that the documentary was “rigorously researched” and is based on a wide range of opinions. It said that it even asked the Indian government for the opportunity to respond to the matters addressed in the documentary, but it declined.

Vineet Washington