London: A BBC documentary claims that Narendra Modi, who was then the Chief Minister, was directly involved in the 2002 Gujarat genocide. The first part of the documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ was aired on BBC Two in Britain on Tuesday. Later, it was also available on YouTube in India but later disappeared. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that the BBC documentary was a weapon of propaganda presenting unreliable material. There is doubt as to what its objectives are. This is a preconceived and counterfactual reflection of the colonial mind. The Ministry continued that they do not want to dismiss such matters.
The new documentary contains a secret document on the Gujarat riots that has not been released by the British government. It is also an inquiry into how conflict and insurgency turned into symptomatic genocide. The film contains several parts of the report of the commission of inquiry set up by the British government after the genocide. The then British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says in the documentary that ‘I was very disturbed by the events in Gujarat and because India is a country with which we have a great relationship, the issue had to be handled very cautiously’. The report was prepared when the British investigation team visited Gujarat that day.
Incidents of violence are much more than what has been revealed. Muslim women were systematically raped. The violence was politically motivated. The aim of the riots was to make the Hindu areas Muslim-free. The documentary also alleges that the report is beyond doubt that it came from Modi. The unnamed former diplomat opined that the riots in which at least 2,000 people were killed was a politically motivated genocide specifically targeting the Muslim community. The violence was spread by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). It was possible only because the state government created favorable conditions.
Jack Straw told the BBC that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been active in backing down the police and secretly encouraging Hindutva extremists. Preventing the police from doing their job of protecting communities was the worst example of political interference. Straw went on to say that he had limitations as a minister and that diplomatic relations with India were never cut off. In October 2012, Britain lifted the diplomatic embargo on Modi following the genocide. The European Union also investigated the Gujarat incidents during this period. This inquiry also found that ministers actively participated in the attacks and instructed senior police officers not to interfere in the riots.
The BBC’s Jill McGivering, who interviewed Modi about the Gujarat riots, said that Modi is not very media-friendly, so when he agreed to the interview, it seemed like he got the scoop. Denying allegations of government role in the riots, Modi said, ‘You British should not teach us human rights.’ When asked if he now feels that he could have done something differently during the riots, Modi’s response was that he could have approached the media in a different way.
The report cited in the documentary ends with the statement that reconciliation is impossible as long as Modi is in power. After the incident became controversial, the BBC came forward with the argument that they were not the ones who uploaded the documentary on YouTube. She told ‘The Hindu’ that steps will be taken to withdraw the illegal uploading.
