India’s attempts to censor BBC documentary made more people want to watch it

Indian government attempts to block BBC documentary critical of PM Narendra Modi this seemed to backfire as more students across the country continued to schedule airings of the series.

Two part series titled “India: The Modi Question”. Premiering last week on BBC Two in the UK, it details Modi’s role in the bloody anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002 when he was the state’s chief minister.

The government has taken steps to limit its citizens’ access to the documentary.

Kanchan Gupta, senior adviser at India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said both Twitter and YouTube were following government orders issued under the emergency powers granted by India’s IT legislation to block the series.

YouTube, however, claims that the links were removed at the request of the BBC.

“The video in question has been blocked by the BBC due to a copyright complaint,” a YouTube spokesperson told HuffPost.

The BBC said it was “standard practice”.

“We are sending takedown notices to websites and other file-sharing platforms whose content infringes BBC copyright,” a BBC spokesperson told HuffPost.

Twitter’s decision to remove some of the tweets from the documentary appears to be in direct conflict with CEO Elon Musk’s promise to protect free speech on the platform. Musk even called himself a “free speech absolutist.”

Gupta said the government ordered Twitter to remove 50 tweets with links to YouTube videos of the documentary. Twitter did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

In response to a message from user The Intercept detailing Twitter’s actions, Musk said he was not aware of it.

“I cannot fix every aspect of Twitter around the world overnight while continuing to run Tesla and SpaceX, among other things,” he wrote on Wednesday.

The BBC documentary seems to be even trending on Indian Twitter at the moment.

Screenshot showing a hashtag referring to a BBC documentary going viral on Indian Twitter.
Screenshot showing a hashtag referring to a BBC documentary going viral on Indian Twitter.

Actor John Cusack shared tweets links to the documentary, but some of them seem to be blocked in India. Users in other countries can still view messages and access links.

Screenshot of how John Cusack's tweet linking to an earlier post linking to a BBC documentary looks to users in India.
Screenshot of how John Cusack’s tweet linking to an earlier post linking to a BBC documentary looks to users in India.
Screenshot of how a John Cusack tweet linking to an earlier post linking to a BBC documentary looks to US users.
Screenshot of how a John Cusack tweet linking to an earlier post linking to a BBC documentary looks to US users.

Members of the opposition party also continued to shareagainst government orders.

“What the @BBC show proves or refutes is up to the viewers,” said Mahua Moitra, a member of the All India Trinamul Congress Party. tweetedadding that “violent censorship by the government is unacceptable.”

Moitra said she will continue to post links to the second part of the series, which aired on Tuesday.

While the series has not aired in India or on BBC World, the BBC’s international news channel, the country’s government has already taken steps to ban people from watching or sharing it online. The decision sparked outrage at universities across the country, where students staged screenings.

Power at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi was cut off on Tuesday shortly before the documentary was scheduled to be broadcast by the student union, prompting students to share the link on platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram for people to watch on their devices. according to the Associated Press.

At another university in the capital, Jamia Millia University, the police arrested half a dozen students who protested on Wednesday after forces rallied off campus to stop a student group from airing the series, AP reported.

Security personnel speak to people at the main gate of Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi on Wednesday.  Tensions at the university escalated after a student group said they were planning to screen a banned documentary examining Modi's role during the 2002 anti-Muslim riots, prompting dozens of police officers armed with tear gas and riot gear to gather at the campus gates.
Security personnel speak to people at the main gate of Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi on Wednesday. Tensions at the university escalated after a student group said they were planning to screen a banned documentary examining Modi’s role during the 2002 anti-Muslim riots, prompting dozens of police officers armed with tear gas and riot gear to gather at the campus gates.

Manish Swarup via The Associated Press

The Indian government tried to discredit the findings of the BBC investigation as propaganda.

This is propaganda material. designed to promote a particularly discredited narrative,” said Arindam Bagchi, a spokesman for the Indian Foreign Ministry. “The bias, the lack of objectivity and the ongoing colonial mindset are clearly visible.”

The broadcaster defended the documentary, saying its journalists had done a thorough research and offered the government a chance to speak.

“There were appeals to a wide range of voices, witnesses and experts, and we presented a range of opinions, including responses from people from the BJP,” the BBC said in a statement, citing Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party.

The riots of 2002 were provoked in a train fire that killed more than 50 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya.. The Muslims were accused of arson, prompting the Hindus to retaliate by burning down their homes and property. according to CNN.

The documentary also touches on a previously unreleased UK Foreign Office report that directly accuses Modi of inspiring and creating the atmosphere that fueled the violence that killed more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims.

Jack Straw, who commissioned the report in his capacity as UK Foreign Secretary at the time, said his findings showed that the purpose of the riots “was to drive Muslims out of Hindu areas”.

“These were very serious allegations that Mr. Modi played an active role in recalling the police and tacitly encouraging Hindu extremists.” Stroh said in a documentary.

Meenakshi Ganguly, director of South Asia at Human Rights Watch, wrote that although Modi was acquitted by the country’s Supreme Court for lack of evidence, his ruling party showed no real commitment to justice.

Ganguly explains that the men found guilty of rape during the riots are still highly respected by the party’s supporters.

“The BJP’s Hindu supremacist ideology has infiltrated the justice system and the media, allowing party supporters to threaten, harass and attack religious minorities, especially Muslims, with impunity,” Ganguly writes. “The Modi government has adopted discriminatory laws and policies against Muslims and has attempted to curb independent institutions.”