London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and Glasgow are some of the cities gearing up for demonstrations this weekend to protest against the controversial two-part BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’.
“We had ‘Enough’ of BBC and its fabricated colonialist guff! If you feel same way #ChaloBBC London and show them what India of 2023 means,” reads the REACH [Race, Ethnicity And Culture Heritage] UK Chapter diaspora appeal for the protest on Sunday, January 29.
It comes as a petition calling for an independent investigation into the series attracted nearly 20,000 within days.
“BBC is no longer the voice of truth but is pandering to vested Interests,” reads one of the reactions of the signatories.
“I am signing this petition because the BBC has a vendetta against India and their PM,” says another signatory.
The first episode of the documentary was aired earlier this month and second earlier this week. It has been banned in India, with the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) condemning it as a "propaganda piece with bias" and reflective of a “colonial mindset”.
While many in India have accused the makers of the documentary of spreading falsehoods and casting “aspersions on the authority and credibility of the Supreme Court of India, sowing divisions among various communities, and making unsubstantiated allegations regarding actions of foreign governments in India”.
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The Indian diaspora in the UK has been equally vocal and critical of the series, with Lord Dolar Popat among those who have written to the Director General of the BBC to express his concerns over the impact it could have on a multicultural British society.
The BBC has defended the series as “rigorously researched according to the highest editorial standards”.
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*Info: Change.Org Petition