New Delhi: When asked by a reporter to respond to the Narendra Modi government banning a BBC documentary on the prime minister’s role in the Gujarat riots, the United States has said that it supports the “importance of a free press around the world.”
Reports say that at the regular media briefing at Washington, a reporter asked the US state department spokesperson Ned Price as to whether the US considers the blocking of the BBC documentary in India a matter of press freedom.
The news agency ANI has reported Price as having said, “I’ll say generally, when it comes to this, we support the importance of a free press around the world.”
Price then continued:
“We continue to highlight the importance of democratic principles, such as freedom of expression, freedom of religion or belief, as human rights that contribute to the strengthening of our democracies. This is a point we make in our relationships around the world. It’s certainly a point we’ve made in India as well.”
Earlier, the news agency PTI had reported on how the US had distanced itself from the BBC’s series, saying it was” not familiar with the documentary, but very familiar with the shared values” that connected Washington and New Delhi as two thriving, vibrant democracies.
The Modi government on January 21 had asked both YouTube and Twitter to remove links posting the BBC documentary about the 2002 Gujarat communal violence. The two platforms reportedly agreed to take this action.
The documentary, ‘India: The Modi Question,’ looks at “the tensions between Prime Minister Modi and the country’s Muslim minority”, as well as “investigating claims” concerning his role in the violence. The documentary unveils a UK government inquiry report which says that “Narendra Modi is directly responsible”.