India has blocked the airing of a BBC documentary which questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots, saying that even sharing of any clips via social media is barred.

Directions to block the clips from being shared have been issued using emergency powers available to the government under the country’s information technology rules, said Kanchan Gupta, an adviser to the government, on his Twitter handle on Saturday.

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While the BBC has not aired the documentary in India, the video was uploaded on some YouTube channels, Gupta said.

The government has issued orders to Twitter to block over 50 tweets linking to the video of the documentary and YouTube has been instructed to block any uploads of the video, Gupta said. Both YouTube and Twitter have complied with the directions, he added.

Govt blocks YouTube videos sharing BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi pic.twitter.com/MS87bUXN3b

— DD News (@DDNewslive) January 22, 2023

The BBC documentary

The first episode of the documentary titled India: The Modi Question, which released on January 17, alleged that a team sent by the British government had found that Modi, then the Gujarat chief minister, was “directly responsible for a climate of impunity” that led to the violence against Muslims. While the documentary has not been officially released in India, its pirated versions have been circulating on social media platforms.

The Ministry of External Affairs has alleged that the documentary pushed a discredited narrative.

Do note that this has not been screened in India…We think that this is a propaganda piece, designed to push a particular discredited narrative. The bias, lack of objectivity & continuing colonial mindset is blatantly visible: MEA on the BBC documentary on PM Narendra Modi pic.twitter.com/5Pd9XV18Jm

— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) January 19, 2023

“[The BBC’s] vile propaganda was found to be undermining the sovereignty and integrity of India, and having the potential to adversely impact India’s friendly relations with foreign countries as also public order within the country,” Gupta said.

‘BBC documentary blocked, not movie on Godse’: Owaisi to PM Modi

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has joined the opposition leaders who have criticised the government action against the BBC’s two part documentary on the riots in Gujarat about two decades ago. The AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) leader was speaking at an event on Sunday when he sought a ban on the movie “Gandhi Godse: Ek Yudh”, which is due to release on January 26 on Republic Day.

He sought the move after the central government blocked access to the BBC documentary – “India: The Modi Question”‘ – last week on social media, including YouTube and Twitter. The first part was recently released, but not in India.

Opposition leaders have ripped into the Centre over the removal of the controversial BBC series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Twitter and YouTube. Some of them tweeted alternative links where the first of the two-part series can be watched.

BBC documentary on Modi screened at University of Hyderabad

Amid controversy over BBC’s documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’, on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his role in the Gujarat riots Fraternity Movement held a special screening of the first episode of the documentary on the campus of the University of Hyderabad (UoH), on Saturday.

On learning about the screening of the documentary, ABVP activists reportedly staged a protest and lodged a complaint with the University registrar and at the Gachibowli police station. However, when contacted, the ABVP and the Gachibowli police denied the claim. (Agencies)