NEW DELHI: Amid high-drama and protests against the Centre’s ban on the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots, Kerala Governor Arif Mohd Khan has expressed his concerns that some people in India trust a foreign agency more than the country’s judiciary. Replying to a question related to the ongoing row over the BBC series on PM Modi, the Kerala Governor said, “India is doing so well across the world so these people are feeling disappointed. I feel sorry for some of our own people because they trust a documentary over the verdicts by the judiciary.”


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The Kerala Governor went on to ask ''why they (BBC) didn't make a documentary on the atrocities committed by the British in India and elsewhere?''


 



 


The Kerala Governor has earlier questioned the timing of the BBC documentary. He said that it was timed to ''discredit India at a time when it had assumed the G20 presidency.'' Speaking to media persons, Kerala Governor asked why has this particular time been chosen to bring out this scurrilous material.


It may be recalled that UK’s British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) recently aired a two-part series attacking PM Modi`s tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister during the Gujarat riots of 2002. The documentary sparked outrage ever since its release and was removed from select platforms.


The Centre also last week directed social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links to the documentary ‘India: The Modi Question.’ In a strong rebuttal to the BBC documentary on PM Modi, more than 300 eminent Indians including retired judges, retired bureaucrats, and retired armed forces veterans signed a statement slamming the British national broadcaster for showing "unrelenting prejudice" toward India and its leader.


The two-part BBC documentary, which is based on an investigation into certain aspects relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of that State, has been trashed by the Ministry of External Affairs as a "propaganda piece" that lacked objectivity and reflected a "colonial mindset."


However, despite the Centre’s ban the controversial BBC series on PM Modi has been released in many parts of the country. Many top universities like JNU, Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi, Hyderabad and Jadavpur Universities have seen massive protests and high drama over the screening of the controversial BBC docuseries on PM Modi.


While top opposition parties have slammed the Centre’s censorship, the ruling BJP has dismissed the BBC documentary as ''propaganda to malign India’s global image'' and something that reflected a "colonial mindset."    


Accusing Congress and other opposition parties of playing politics over a sensitive issue, the ruling BJP that if they had any respect for the Indian judiciary, they would not have supported the BBC documentary.  


The BBC claims that the two-part documentary is based on its investigation into certain aspects relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state.