Recently there has been a controversy over the BBC documentary in which they have shown the footage of the Gujarat riots of 2002, and what happened afterward. This documentary is trying to put the blame on the massacre which happened after the Godhra Train incident where more than 50 Hindus were burnt alive by the mob of the minority community, on the state government led by Narendra Modi as Chief Minister. The reality is that this happened about 21 years back, and Narendra Modi was blamed by these pseudo-secular political parties and people for these riots for more than a decade, till the Supreme Court of India absolved Narendra Modi of all charges framed against him by various central government agencies and NGOs. Presently this documentary has been banned by the Government of India, but it is still being screened by various political parties and other organizations opposed to the ideology of PM Modi.
A few of the things which BBC has mentioned in the documentary are based on half-truths, contrary to the facts and court decisions:
1 The documentary claims that the Godhra carnage is being disputed, whereas the fact is Nanavati Commission said that the Godhra train coach was burnt by throwing petrol from outside, and Nanavati Commission’s report was found correct by the SC.
2 Investigation of Special Investigating Team (SIT) is labeled as ‘superficial’ in this documentary. Whereas the fact is SIT was appointed by SC, and the SC was directly involved in these investigations, and in the end, the SC showed its appreciation of the investigations done by SIT. BBC is showing doubts about the working of India’s Highest Court.
3 The documentary mentions that Congress MP Ehsan Jafri called Narendra Modi (then CM of Gujarat) for help before being killed. As per SIT, there is no record/proof of Jafri calling CM for help.
4 The documentary shows that Ms. Teesta Setalvad was waging war to fight human right violation. Whereas as per the SIT, she was plotting a death sentence for Narendra Modi for the 2002 riots. In the last year the SC in their order recorded that Teesta Setalvad had a vested interest through her NGO for spreading false propaganda, and framing false charges against Narendra Modi through various PILs by the NGOs. It was also mentioned that she forged the documents to claim the involvement of the Gujarat govt. in the riots. After the SC’s observations, she was arrested and spent more than 2 months in jail, and presently she is on the bail, and foreign funding for her NGO has been canceled by the government, on account of funds not being spent on what purpose it was given by the overseas organization, and the funds were used for filing various PILs against Narendra Modi in various courts across the country and other personal purposes.
5 As per BBC, Sanjiv Bhatt was present at a meeting at CM’s residence on 28th February 2002 where it was discussed that let the riot continue, but the fact is this IPS officer claimed his presence at the meeting in after 7 years and later he was convicted for forging fax document about the meeting happening and spreading lies.
6 Although BBC has mentioned the Godhra incident, they failed to mention that 30 Islamic radical people were convicted by the Indian court for burning 56 Hindus in the train compartment. This incident was the trigger for the Gujarat riots, in which more than 1000 people died (both Muslims and Hindus).
7 Another testimony used by BBC is that of Haren Pandya, that the said meeting happened. He was also convicted for spreading lies, and later he was murdered. But BBC failed to mention that the people who were convicted for the murder of Haren Pandya were all Muslims.
I failed to understand the purpose of BBC for telecasting this documentary, which had all the earlier footage, clippings, and interviews on what had happened, as per the experts who have seen this documentary these facts are known to everyone. Some are saying that this is because of the British people’s mindset as they feel they are superior to India, and they still feel that they have ruled India for two centuries, and still considered Indian inferior to them, and they can not digest the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put India at the top of world politics, and India has become world’s 5th largest economy ahead of Britain by one rank.
There can be one more reason which could be that some political parties who are not happy with Modi’s popularity in the world, wanted to tarnish his image, so they hired/bribed the BBC producer to make this documentary by assembling the footage, interviews, clippings already available in their archives, and telecast the same.
Friends, for this blog, most of the details I have picked are from social media/news channels/newspapers, and as far as my memory goes they are correct. In the end, whatever I have written at the closing stages of this blog is my personal views.
Waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
1st February 2023