Tag: 2002 riots bbc

BBC Raids: Revenge Is What the Voters of the BJP Keep Looking For

The Indian government is confident of total inaction from the international community. But there is something more in its latest offensive against the media.

The income tax raids on the offices of the BBC India in New Delhi and Mumbai –  politely called as ‘surveys’ – have not come as a surprise to those who know this government. The raids obviously have nothing to do with any suspected money deal involving the BBC. It is hard to imagine that a public broadcaster like it would indulge in any financial misdeeds – too in India – which would warrant the attention of the income tax sleuths.

When income tax officers raided news organisations recently (eg. NewsClick, Dainik Bhaskar) it was motivated primarily by the regime’s desire to punish them for their audacity to scrutinise the acts of this government and to critique it when necessary. The official claim being made that the IT department is investigating persistent ‘transfer pricing’ and misreporting of profits by the BBC has been rubbished by tax experts.

The supporters of this government know it well that this raid on the BBC is an act of revenge by the government for the documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s relations with Muslims in India. The documentary was not only about the 2002 riots, it was about the journey of India from 2002 to 2023, and especially since 2014.

The Editors Guild of India has rightly condemned the raids as yet another assault on the freedom of the media. But this doesn’t perturb the government. It has enacted this spectacle to tell its people that no one, not even the BBC, should dare cross the line drawn by it. They will have to suffer for criticising the government.

The government agency’s raids show that revenge is what the constituents of the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party keep looking for and the leader never disappoints. So, when analysts think that these raids are a self goal of this government, they fail to understand the psychological game that it is playing with the people of India.

Also read: BBC ‘Survey’: Modi Government Is Behaving Exactly Like Indira Gandhi During the Emergency

Those shocked by the act say that only a foolish government can do it when India has taken the role of the chair of G20, when representatives of the G20 countries are in India for various events, and when the BBC operates in all these countries. The government has earned nothing but bad press for it, internationally.

This government’s past record explains that international opinion has never been a worry for it. It has brazenly raided and closed Greenpeace India and Amnesty International India; suspended funding routes to Oxfam India and various other organisations which have a global influence. The disapproving murmur from some friendly foreign governments didn’t mean much. The government knows that the West, the so-called ‘free world’, would rather have an authoritarian majoritarian India on its side, the objective being to take care of the increasing influence of China.

The Modi government is confident of total inaction from the international community. We need not flip the pages of our history books to understand that it has always been like that. But there is something more in the latest action of this government.

Prime Minister Modi wants his supporters to believe that they – and India – are in a state of war. Amnesty, Oxfam, Greenpeace all are foreign elements attacking it. It is legitimate for them to be neutralised. Similarly, the BBC documentary is an assault on India, as is the Hindenburg report on the Adani group.

BJP voters would have loved a revenge act against Hindenburg Research but sadly it does not have any office or an allied entity in India.

The Modi government is constantly creating a constituency which would like to score victories in imaginary battles or wars. So, changing of the names of Allahabad or Mughalsarai or Mughal Garden is a revenge against the medieval Muslim rulers. The attacks on Muslims and Christians in various parts of the country  is part of an ongoing war to show them their place, to make them bow their heads.

The humiliation of organisations or individuals with any real or imaginary foreign link is yet another victory. This is what is being fed to this constituency which is asked to pay for these attacks with its votes. The international community must, however, think about the monster it is nourishing. The violence that this government has unleashed on Muslims, Christians and its critics will not only harm India irreparably but will have serious repercussions for the entire region and the world.

Apoorvanand teaches at Delhi University.

 

 

 

 

 

Several Jamia Students Detained After Attempting to Screen BBC Documentary on Modi

The university administration said permission to screen the documentary was not sought and accused the SFI of having a “vested interest to destroy the peaceful academic atmosphere of the university”.

New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Wednesday detained several students of the Jamia Millia Islamia university after the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) planned to screen the BBC documentary on Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots on campus.

According to the Indian Express, around four students were detained around noon, while seven or eight more students were picked up by the cops around 3 pm. The news agency PTI claimed that more than 70 students were detained. It is not clear if all the detained students are affiliated to the SFI.

The university administration said permission to screen the documentary was not sought and accused the SFI of having a “vested interest to destroy the peaceful academic atmosphere of the university”.

The Modi government has moved to censor the documentary – which was not broadcast on Indian television – across social media platforms, asking YouTube and Twitter to takedown posts which linked to the film. The Ministry of External Affairs has termed it a “propaganda piece with bias“.

The first episode of the BBC documentary detailed the findings of a UK government enquiry into the riots, which said Modi – then the chief minister of Gujarat – was “directly responsible” for the killings. The second episode, which aired on January 24 in the UK, dealt with aspects of Modi’s “troubled relationship” with India’s Muslims after his re-election in 2019.

Read: Full Text | UK Govt Inquiry Says VHP Planned to ‘Purge Muslims’ in 2002 Riots, Acted With Guj Govt’s Support

The crackdown on Jamia students comes a day after students of Jawaharlal Nehru University accused the administration of cutting power and internet to sections of the campus to foil attempts to screen the documentary. While the students watched it on laptops in the students’ union office, they accused members of the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) of pelting stones at them.

The Jamia, the SFI – the CPI(M)’s student wing – had released a poster which said the documentary would be screened at MCRC lawn gate 8 at 6 pm. The administration said permission was not taken to screen the BBC documentary. “It has come to the knowledge of the university administration that some students belonging to a political organisation have circulated a poster about screening of a controversial documentary film on the university campus today,” it said in a statement, warning of “strict disciplinary action” in case it is screened.

“The university is taking all possible measures to prevent people/organisations having a vested interest to destroy the peaceful academic atmosphere of the university,” it said.

According to reports, there was heavy police deployment outside the campus, including cops in riot gear stationed at almost all gates.

The deputy commissioner of police (Southeast) Esha Pandey told Indian Express that 13 students were detained around 4 pm to “ensure peace in the area” after the Jamia administration said informed the police that “some students were creating ruckus on the streets”.

The newspaper reported that many students who had no plans to watch the film complained that they were not allowed to enter the campus after noon.

Screening stopped at Panjab University

According to Hindustan Times, a screening of the same documentary was stopped at the Student Centre of Panjab University on Wednesday after a portion of it was played by the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI).

Here too, the administration said permission was not sought to screen the university.

Sachin Galav, a university student who is the president of NSUI Chandigarh, said, “We started the screening around 5 pm and were stopped by the authorities at 5.30 pm. We were told by the security officials that we do not have permission for screening it. Our aim was to make students aware of the Gujarat riots in 2002.”

Vikram Singh,  chief university security, told HT, “They tried to screen the documentary without permission. I was informed by a security guard and we reached the spot. Permission from dean student welfare (DSW) is required for any kind of display at the Student Centre (Stu-C). We asked them but they had not received any permission for the screening.”