Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri on Friday said Britain has always believed in the ideology of dividing people after a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi was termed as “propaganda” by the Ministry of External Affairs. The two-part BBC documentary India: The Modi Question is at the center of a controversy after the Ministry of External Affairs questioned the intent and colonial mindset behind it.
The first part of the series was aired on Tuesday but not in India. The second part is to be aired on January 24.
Amid widespread condemnation of the documentary’s content, advocate Vineet Jindal filed a complaint against the BBC for “attacking the country and the integrity of the PM”.
Former diplomat Kanwal Sibal who was the foreign secretary in 2002 said the intent of the BBC documentary quoting former British foreign secretary Jack Straw is incendiary, “open old wounds to keep kindling communal tensions in India, buttress current narrative on the persecution of Muslims and tarnish Modi. Confirms British must not be trusted,” the former diplomat wrote.
As the documentary is apparently based on a ‘secret investigation’ conducted by the then UK government, Kanwal Sibal said he was made aware of the UK mischief and he had issued a warning to the missions in Delhi to not interfere in the internal affairs.
“What secrets UK govt access hidden from people on the ground, opposition, civil society, journalists, etc? How can the foreign govt conduct secret inquiries in another country? Did they send people undercover? How much an on-the-spot inquiry took place without GOI knowing? Absurd,” the former diplomat wrote amid the row.
