Jaishankar criticizes the timing of the BBC documentary on the Prime Minister, claiming that ‘politics…’
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Affairs Minister, said on Tuesday that the timing of the contentious BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not coincidental.
“We are not debating a documentary or a speech someone gave in a European city. We are arguing politics that is being performed purportedly. There is a phrase called ‘war by other means.’ This is politics by other means,” the minister told ANI.
“You do a hatchet job and say this is merely a quest for truth that we decided to release 20 years later. Do you believe the timing is coincidental? “I’m not sure if election season has begun in India, but it has certainly begun in London and New York,” Jaishankar remarked.
The BBC documentary, which depicts the events of the 2002 Gujarat riots during Modi’s tenure as state chief minister, has been banned in India. Calling it a ‘propaganda piece’, the Centre persuaded social media platforms YouTube and Twitter to shut down the documentary titled ‘India: The Modi Question’.
When asked if the rise of PM Modi and India was not accepted by certain sections in the West and in India, Jaishankar said, “Do you doubt it? It’s like drip, drip, drip on a stone…How do you shape a very extremist image of India, the government, of the BJP, of the prime minister? It has been going on for a decade. Let’s not have illusions about it”.
“You’ll say anything since there’s an eco-chamber outdoors. People take politics abroad in today’s globalised environment. Politics in India sometimes comes from outside our borders rather than within. Outside sources provide ideas and objectives. Why is there a dramatic increase in reports concerning India? “, he explained.
“You want to film a documentary because a lot happened in Delhi in 1984. Why wasn’t there a documentary on it? If you claim I am a humanist who must seek justice for those who have been wronged. This is politics at work by people who lack the confidence to enter the political arena,” the minister remarked.
