India’s war on the BBC
Spectator (UK)Jan 24, 2023
As part of an ongoing defamation case over a documentary created by the BBC about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the broadcaster has received a summons from Delhi's high court.
The suit alleges that the documentary, which critiqued Modi's leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots, maliciously defamed India. A BBC spokesperson acknowledged that the broadcaster was "aware of the court proceedings," and they added that commenting on developments "would be inappropriate…at this stage."
Modi's relentless suppression of dissent is now impacting press freedom, as the world's largest democracy attempts to censor the investigation of independent journalists. It's evident that the Prime Minister is leading the BJP in failing to condone attacks on Muslims throughout the predominantly Hindu nation of India. The global publicity Modi has generated with this vindictive response may well pose more problems for his reputation than it solves.
Modi is an outstandingly poor media manager, and his response to this BBC fiasco proves it. The age of modern media makes it impossible to ban anything so, by attempting to suppress it, the Prime Minister is catapulting the profile of this documentary. Rather than banning it, the Indian government should be transparent about what this documentary is — a total fabrication masquerading as journalism.
There is a 53% chance that there will be a non-BJP Prime Minister of India before 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.