The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued orders for blocking YouTube videos which published the first episode of the controversial BBC documentary linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and has also directed Twitter to remove 50 tweets containing links to those YouTube videos, according to informed sources.
Senior officials of the Union home minister, external affairs ministry and the information and broadcasting ministry examined the documentary and found it to be an attempt to cast aspersions on the authority and the credibility of the Supreme Court of India, sources said.
The I&B Ministry gave the order to take down the links using emergency powers under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, and both YouTube and Twitter have agreed to follow the order, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Both YouTube and Twitter are reported to have complied with the order issued by the Centre.
The documentary has been earlier dismissed by MEA as a “propaganda piece” that lacks objectivity and reflects colonial mindset.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak clearly stated in the British Parliament that he “doesn’t agree at all “ with the ‘characterization” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the controversial BBC documentary and snubbed Pakistan-origin British MP Imran Hussain on the issue.
Hussain was trying to push Pakistan’s agenda in the British Parliament, but PM Sunak nipped the move in the bud.
The government sees a sinister design behind the BBC pushing an anti-India agenda and the mischief that the Pakistan-origin MP tried to play only confirms this, according to sources.
Lord Rami Ranger CBE has in a letter to BBC Director-General, Tim Davie, lodged a strong complaint about the nasty documentary linked to Prime Minister Narendra that was aired on 17th January.
“The timing of this documentary is sinister; when India assumed the Presidency of G-20, we have our first Prime Minister of Indian origin in Number 10 and we are working for the India-UK Free Trade Agreement,” the letter states.
“I urge you to stop screening the second part to avoid exasperating the tense situation between the Hindus and Muslims in many of our cities,” it further states.
