I’m Indian Muslim and I find BBC Documentary a Hitjob against Modi and India’s Rising Global Profile

The BBC documentary, ‘India: The Modi Question’, is being criticised for being sensationalistic and for relying upon unreliable sources and hearsay. Using the contentious topic of the Gujarat riots of 2002, the British documentary presents a poor picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his administration.

Geopolitical experts and policy geeks draw attention to the fact that the documentary ignores Modi’s contributions to India’s development including the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, and the Digital India project. In short, the documentary has been criticised for being biased, and one-sided, and for failing to give a fair representation of Modi and his administration.

Interestingly, what could be brewing in the pots of white propagandists that they chose 2023 to scratch the wounds of 2002? I am an Indian Muslim and I find BBC’s documentary as nothing but a hitjob against Prime Minister Modi and India’s rising global profile.

The documentary is shrouded with absolute speculation and a clear-cut attempt to resurrect the colonial strategy of ‘Divide and Rule’.

BBC’s foxy diming

It appears as if the BBC kept the film ready — and it was waiting for the right time to hit the iron. As India attracts world attention with its G20 presidency in 2023, and with its booming economy and the ‘fastest growing economy’ tag. India is walking in the global arena with its head held up high. There would definitely be attempts to shoot arrows in the dark to water down the Indian leadership under whom the country is thriving.

Moreover, the timing of the release of the BBC documentary is seriously extraordinary. It came a day after Modi instructed his National Executive Council to start a Muslim outreach programme without expecting votes in return. He explicitly talked about engaging with the ‘Pasmanda’ and Bohra Muslim groups.

Pasmanda is not a Muslim sect per se, nor was the term used in Islamic texts. It has been recently coined in India. In fact, it’s a strategic classification by the ruling party to separate the regular Muslims from the ‘Ashraf’ Muslims who have forcefully occupied the upper echelons of the Muslim representation — whether politics or media. It’s claimed that Pasmanda Muslims make up 80-85 percent of the Muslim population.

In order to reach out to the Muslims, the BJP has started organising community-specific events in Uttar Pradesh with an eye toward the 2024 lower house elections. Establishing the dialogue between BJP-RSS and Muslims is the spoiler for a lot of political opportunists and parties. It eliminates vulture activism and leads people to work in broader spectrums. The so-called activists thrive on dragging the problems, rather than finalising the solutions. The rapprochement between Hindus and Muslims is a cyanide pill for the woke propagandists.

The double standards

Jack Straw is one of the integral figures in the documentary row. He backed the film. According to the BBC documentary, the former UK Foreign Secretary Straw had a ‘secret report’ from 2002 that blamed Modi.

He is the same Straw whose intelligence dossier concocted falsehoods regarding the presence of ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ (WMD) in Iraq. Indeed, his “secret reports” led to the Iraq war, and what came after it — whether Iran-backed Shiite militias or the rise of ISIS. The whole country was pushed into devastation.

How about this? India produces a documentary right before the American elections, about the West’s misadventures in Syria and Libya in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. The American Democrats hand-held the Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East to topple the regimes and pushed the Arab nations 50 years backwards. From the deaths of millions of civilians to the mass refugee influx in the neighbouring countries — there was a catastrophe. Is it not something the BBC should talk about?

It would be ridiculous to believe that the BBC wanted to sympathise with the Indian Muslims. The communal riots are not confined to Gujarat 2002. There was a ‘riot culture’. Some of the infamous riots were the 1969 Gujarat riots, the 1970 Bhiwandi riots, the 1980 Moradabad riots, the 1983 Nellie massacre, the 1985 Gujarat riots, the 1987 Hashimpura massacre, the 1989 Bhagalpur violence, the 1992 Bombay riots, the 1993 Pangal massacre, 2006 Malegaon bombings, 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, and 2014 Assam violence.

The riot culture has stopped at an exponential level in the recent past. Those who conspire to do so are subjected to the toughest penalties.

The amplification of Gujarat 2002 through the BBC is the obvious case of carrying out a hitjob against Modi and India’s rising calibre.

BBC vs Supreme Court

The BBC documentary has raised serious speculations against the established Indian judiciary system.

Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (ANU) Tariq Mansoor writes in his column, “First, the series shows utter contempt for the Indian judiciary. The 2002 riot cases have been heard at virtually all levels of the Indian judiciary; they have been heard in different states as well. The highest court of the land, the Supreme Court, constituted an SIT to investigate the case. The results are for everyone to see”.

After thorough judicial and administrative findings by men and women of high professional standing, Narendra Modi was given a clean chit. Different review petitions have also been found untenable.”

International award-winning actor Kabir Bedi aptly said, “‘The Modi Question’ is an utterly biased documentary by BBC News, claiming Modi’s India is in ‘religious turmoil’, harping on decades-old allegations, long settled by the courts. It’s gutter journalism, scavenging for sensationalism, blind to the bigger picture”.

Sadly, a large section of Left-liberal journalists is rallying behind a covert narrative that the Indian judiciary system is ineffective and non-reliable. The BBC, owned by the former colonial rulers, is more accurate than their own courts.

Sincere advice to fellow Muslims

Let bygones be bygones—It’s unrealistic to undo the past. Introspection and mending ways will pave the way for a brighter future.

God says in Quran [4:90], “So if they refrain from fighting you and offer you peace, then God does not permit you to harm them”.

Also in [41:34], he says, “Repel other’s evil deeds with your good deeds. You will see that he, with whom you had enmity, will become your close friend”.

Signing treaties, extending the olive branch, and working for a unified stable society should be a Muslim’s priority. BBC backed by the anti-India lobby is merely using Muslims as cannon fodder to further its agenda. The ulema, intellectuals, and sane Muslims should identify this phenomenon and start engaging with the Establishment and the ruling party.

If they believe the BBC Documentary is to aid them? Nay, the anti-India lobby just wants to get rid of Modi and settle their political scores. If Muslims fall into this trap, they will be at the losing end.

The author is a Saudi-based Indian national. He is Director of Milli Chronicle Media London. He holds a PG-Diploma in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI-ML) from IIIT. He did a certificate program in Counterterrorism from the University of Leiden, Netherlands. He tweets under @ZahackTanvir. Views expressed are personal.

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