Centre asks Twitter, YouTube to take down links sharing BBC documentary critical of PM Modi: Sources

The Centre has asked social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links of the BBC documentary that is allegedly critical of PM Narendra Modi’s tenure as Chief Minister during the 2002 riots in Gujarat, said government sources told India Today on Saturday.

The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has asked the two social media platforms not to allow the documentary titled "India: The Modi Question" to be shared or viewed. The directions have been issued by Secretary, Information and Broadcasting Apurva Chandra using the emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021. 

On Friday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi deemed access to the BBC's two-part series as a 'propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative'. Following this, the I& B ministry told Twitter to remove over 50 tweets on the documentary. Many tweets and YouTube videos of the documentary no longer appear on the microblogging and video-sharing websites. 

Earlier, the Centre criticised the documentary calling it a "propaganda piece designed to push a discredited narrative". The BBC documentary, which was shared on social media platforms, questioned PM Narendra Modi's leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots. PM Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat when the communal riots broke out following the burning of a train in Godhra in 2002. 

Not just the I&B ministry, officials of home and foreign ministries have said that after examining the documentary closely, it found that the documentary aimed to cast aspersions on the authority and credibility of the Supreme Court, and sow divisions among communities in India. 

On Saturday morning, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien in a tweet claimed that the tweet he write about the documentary that "exposed" PM Modi's stand on minorities during the riots has been deleted by Twitter. 

Posting a long thread on Twitter with the headline CENSORSHIP, O'Brien said his tweet was taken after the Indian government’s order. 

"CENSORSHIP. Twitter India HAS TAKEN DOWN MY TWEET of the #BBCDocumentary, it received lakhs of views. The 1-hour BBC documentary exposes how PM Narendra Modi HATES MINORITIES," the TMC leader alleged. 

On Friday, British PM Rishi Sunak refused to comment on the documentary when his colleague Pakistan-origin MP Imran Hussain asked him about his remarks on the documentary. Sunak without commenting on the series said he “doesn't agree with the characterisation" of his Indian counterpart in the UK's parliament. 

Sunak, who took over as the British premier in the month of October, told the British parliament: “The UK government's position on this has been clear and long-standing and hasn't changed, of course, we don't tolerate persecution where it appears anywhere but I am not sure I agree at all with the characterisation that the honourable gentleman has put forward to.”