Modi documentary: Online petition seeks probe into ‘serious breach’ by BBC

An online petition has asked for an independent probe into the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) over its controversial documentary series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The petitioners on Change.Org have alleged a “serious breach” by the BBC in its duties as a public broadcaster in the UK. The petition has strongly condemned the BBC for “failing to meet the highest standards of editorial impartiality” and has attracted over 2,500 signatures since it went online on Sunday night.

The first part of India: The Modi Question aired last week, and the second is due to be aired on Tuesday. The petition has labelled the documentary as a piece of “sinister propaganda journalism that deliberately misinforms its viewers.”

Also read: India dubs BBC documentary on Gujarat riots a propaganda piece

“We strongly condemn the BBC for failing to meet the highest standards of editorial impartiality in its two-part documentary, India: The Modi Question,” the petition reads.

“We call upon the BBC Board to conduct an independent investigation into this serious breach of its duties as a public service broadcaster and publish the findings in full,” it demands.

“Hold BBC accountable”

The petition also urges the UK’s independent media watchdog, the Office of Communications (OFCOM), to hold the BBC accountable for what it calls “repeated failures to secure content standards which command the trust of license-fee paying audiences and to discuss necessary corrections and clarifications with the broadcaster.”

Under the rationale for the latest move, the petitioners claim the documentary is an example of “agenda-driven reporting and institutional bias” that now characterises this once-globally-respected organisation.

Also read: 20 years after Gujarat riots, victims live in temporary shelters with few rights

“The timing for airing, some 21 years later, a so-called investigative report that has nothing new in it, but only shoehorns old allegations to fit the producer’s clearly predetermined conclusions in itself speaks volumes. Inexplicably, it comes at a time when India’s Supreme Court has, after a lengthy investigation and due process, completely absolved Prime Minister Modi from the very same allegations of complicity in the 2002 (Gujarat) riots that the BBC now seeks to rake up after more than two decades,” it reads.

“Anti-Hindu bias”

Many of the signatories also express similar sentiments, calling it “complete propaganda” and condemning the BBC for carrying out a malicious agenda.

“The BBC is creating a false narrative against the two-time democratically elected Prime Minister of the largest democracy in the world. Besides, PM Modi was exonerated by the Supreme Court of India,” writes Lord Rami Ranger, one of the British Indian signatories who has been very vocal over the issue.

It comes as the Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB) wrote to Deborah Turness, CEO of BBC News, last week to complain against the broadcaster’s “anti-Hindu bias.”

Also read: With 2002 Gujarat riots back in discourse, Cong’s dilemma is how to deal with it

“This preposterous, ill-advised production and airing of a Hindu hate piece could well be the ammunition thugs need to go out and target Hindus. Does the BBC not have any responsibility,” the letter questions.

This follows the Indian government’s strong condemnation of the programme as “a propaganda piece lacking objectivity.”

The BBC has defended the series as rigorously researched according to the highest editorial standards.

(With agency inputs)