The two-part docuseries India: The Modi Question, which premiered on BBC Two on January 17, 2023, has sparked controversy in India and the UK. The Indian government has criticized the documentary, calling it propaganda against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while BBC has defended it as rigorously researched.

Read More: ‘Series 1 Episode 2‘

The docuseries delves into the tensions between PM Modi and the Muslim community in India, specifically focusing on the 2002 Gujarat riots. The second episode of the series is set to air on January 24, 2023, on BBC Two. If you’re living anywhere outside the UK, a good quality VPN is required for BBC’s new PM Modi docuseries in your region. Here’s how you can.

Quick steps to watch a BBC documentary on PM Narendra Modi from anywhere in 2023

 

What is the release date of India: The Modi Question?

The controversial documentary series India: The Modi Question’s first episode was released on January 17, 2023, on BBC. The second episode will premiere on Tuesday, January 24, 2023.

What is the Critical of Modi documentary about?

The 2002 Gujarat riots, which claimed thousands of lives and left millions homeless, particularly in the Muslim community, are the subject of the BBC’s new two-part documentary series “India: The Modi Question.” The documentary explores the government of then-chief minister Narendra Modi’s role in the riots. The documentary, which is only broadcast in the UK, examines the growing hostility between the Muslim community and the BJP and right-wing Hindu organizations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Official Synopsis of India: The Modi Question

“Tensions in the world’s largest democracy. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been dogged by accusations over his attitude to the nation’s Muslim minority. What’s the truth?”

– Official Synopsis of the documentary series India: The Modi Question.

Indian Government Banned a BBC Documentary India: The Modi Question. However, People Are Watching it Anyway!

In the southern state of Kerala, a local branch of the opposition Congress Party broadcast the banned BBC documentary exposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s involvement in the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat.

The documentary screening on Thursday comes a day after tear gas and riot gear-clad New Delhi police detained close to a dozen students at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) university ahead of a scheduled screening. The police have not confirmed the number of inmates, and their access to attorneys is restricted.

BBC reminds 2023 India of 2002 Modi in their new documentary India: The Modi Question!

The 2002 Gujarat riots were a three-day inter-communal unrest in the western Indian state when an express train was set on fire. Modi, who is currently the leader of the greatest democracy in the world and served as Gujarat’s chief minister from 2001 to 2014, has frequently been blamed for purposefully failing to end violence against Muslims. The Indian Supreme Court cleared Modi of complicity in the massacre in 2012 after finding no proof.

The evidence is, however, scathing in the BBC’s brand-new account of the incident and its consequences. For instance, Modi was “personally responsible” in a classified UK government study for the violence in Gujarat in 2002. In it, investigators mentioned attempts to “purge Muslims from Hindu districts,” widespread rape of Muslim women, and riots that bore “all the signs of an ethnic cleansing.”

Indian Government is trying to block people from watching a BBC documentary about Modi.

People are drawn to “India: The Modi Question” more because efforts are being made to block it online. The Indian government is making every effort to prevent citizens of the nation from viewing a recent BBC documentary online. The BBC’s new two-part documentary, India: The Modi Question, which details Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, has reportedly been blocked by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), according to several reports.

Students at India University get warned for screening India: The Modi Question documentary.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has ordered a controversial BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be canceled. A top Indian university has threatened its students’ union with severe disciplinary action if a planned screening of a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes ahead, claiming that it will “disturb peace and harmony” on campus. Read more here.

The Big and Alarming Revelations about Ethnic Cleansing of Muslims in the BBC’s Narendra Modi documentary

According to reports, the first installment of the two-part series extensively reveals “never-before-seen” or “restricted” documents. The public was never made aware of these reports. Statements like “widespread and systematic rape of Muslim women,” “extend of violence much greater than reported,” “aim was to purge Muslims from Hindu areas,” “their systematic of violence has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing,” and “violence politically motivated” are mentioned in the report’s executive summary.

Why Modi doesn’t want India to watch a BBC film on Gujarat carnage.

Modi has repeatedly denied claims that he failed to end the rioting in Gujarat.

A special investigation team appointed by the Supreme Court to look into Modi’s and others’ roles in the violence concluded in a 541-page report in 2012 that there was insufficient evidence to charge the then-chief minister.

Modi was named the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate the following year. He won the general election in 2014 and was re-elected in 2019 with a more significant majority in parliament.

Students Fight to See The Modi Documentary as the officials try to block it.

Officials at a public university cut the power before a planned screening, and the government has barred clips from being posted online.

India The Modi Question Series 1 Episode 2: Indian General Elections 2019 Transgression, The Abrogation Of Kashmir Article 370

The second episode of BBC Two’s documentary India: The Modi Question will air on January 24, 2023, at 9:00 p.m. The second episode will focus on India’s 2019 General Elections and the reelection of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India, the man behind the ethnic cleansing of Muslims. It will also look at several contentious policies, such as imposing a citizenship rule that many felt unfairly targeted Muslims and removing Kashmir’s unique status, protected by Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. Read more here.

TMC’s Mahua Moitra says ‘won’t accept Censorship on Modi’s documentary India: The Modi Question.’

Derek O’Brien and Mahua Moitra, members of the Trinamool Congress, attacked the Centre on Sunday by posting a link to a contentious BBC documentary about the 2002 Gujarat riots and Indian PM Narendra Modi and pledging to fight “censorship.”

Opposition Leaders Slam Indian Government for Censorship on Critical documentary India: The Modi Question.

The contentious BBC series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taken down from Twitter and YouTube, prompting criticism from opposition leaders of the government at large. Some of them tweeted substitute links to the first episode of the two-part series.

The extremist Indian Political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is being criticized the most in the new PM Modi BBC documentary.

The new BBC documentary India: The Modi Question criticizes the Indian Prime Minister’s attitude toward Muslims. And has enraged Indians and India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Twitter. Experts say the Hindu nationalist BJP’s government has exacerbated discrimination against India’s Muslim communities.

What are the 2002 Gujarat Riots in India?

A three-day intercommunal fight broke out in Gujarat state in western India in 2002. 58 Hindu pilgrims and karsevaks returning from Ayodhya died in a train fire in Godhra on February 27, 2002, which is blamed for the rioting. Next to the original riot occurrences, there were additional violent outbursts in Ahmedabad for three months and across the state of Gujarat against the minority Muslim population over the following year.

Official statistics show that 1,044 people died in the riots, 223 are still missing, and 2,500 were injured. 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were among the deceased.

Several reports have been of savage murders, rapes, and widespread looting and property damage, as well as police and government officials who reportedly handed lists of Muslim-owned homes to the rioters and directed them.

Narendra Modi, then the Chief Minister of Gujarat and eventually the Prime Minister of India, was charged with supporting the violence.

India Blocks Social Media Posts on BBC Documentary on 2002 Riots

The Indian government has asked Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube to remove videos and tweets about a BBC documentary about religious riots in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat in 2002.

India: The Modi Question Docuseries Episode 1 Review

The first episode of the two-part documentary series aired earlier this week on BBC Two on Tuesday, and the second part will air next week on January 24.

Narendra Modi’s premiership has been marred by persistent allegations about his government’s attitude toward India’s Muslim population. This series investigates these allegations, Modi’s backstory, and other questions about his politics regarding India’s most significant religious minority.

In the first episode, the BBC investigates Modi’s rise through the ranks of the ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), culminating in his appointment as Gujarat’s Chief Minister in 2001.

2002 Gujarat Riots: Attacks on Muslims

Following the violence, it became evident that many attacks targeted Muslim women, children, and populations.

Human Rights Watch and other organizations criticized the Gujarat state government and the Indian government for failing to address the plight of the victims, the “vast majority of them Muslim,” who abandoned their homes for relief camps during the violence.

Teesta Setalvad said on February 28 that all forty people killed by police firing in Ahmedabad’s Morjari Chowk and Charodia Chowk neighborhoods were Muslims.

At least 250 women and girls are thought to have been gang raped before being burned to death. Children were forced to feed gasoline before being set on fire and gutted pregnant women before having their unborn child’s bodies displayed to them.

Forty-six women were among the ninety-six bodies at the Naroda Patiya mass grave. Additionally, rioters drowned houses and electrocuted whole families inside.

Other forms of violence against women included stripping them naked, molesting them with objects, and ultimately killing them.

Survivors of the Gujarat riots speak out – Newsnight!

Secret UK Govt Inquiry Says That Modi is ‘Directly Responsible’ for 2002 Gujarat Riots

In the film, then-UK Foreign Secretary (Minister) Jack Straw expresses deep concern about the violence that prompted the inquiry. Modi is shown denying any involvement and disputing the conclusions of BBC correspondents.

‘India: The Modi Question,’ a BBC documentary, examines “tensions between India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country’s Muslim minority,” as well as “investigating claims” about his role in the large-scale communal violence that erupted in Gujarat in February and March 2002, killing “over a thousand.”

What does the former foreign secretary, Jack Straw (2001-2006), say about India: The Modi Question?

Former foreign secretary Jack Straw (2001–2006) told the BBC that he was personally involved in the investigations because the information and findings were frightening. Here is what he said:

“I was very worried about it. I took a great deal of personal interest because India is an important country with whom we (the UK) have relations. And so, we had to handle it very carefully,” Straw told the BBC, adding, “What we did was establish an inquiry and have a team go to Gujarat and find out what had happened. And they produced an in-depth report.”

A former Anonymous British Diplomat called it ‘Pogrom’ India: The Modi Question

An anonymous former British official called the entire incident a pogrom. For our readers, a pogrom is intentionally killing a specific ethnic community. According to the former diplomat, it was the Muslims in this instance. He claimed that at least 2000 people—most of whom were Muslims—were killed during the rioting. They called it a pogrom because it was an intentional, politically motivated attack on the Muslim community.

BBC spokesperson said that the documentary India: The Modi Question is ‘Vigorously Researched’!

According to Variety BBC Spokesperson, The BBC is dedicated to bringing attention to significant global concerns. The documentary series examines the conflicts between the Hindu majority and the Muslim minority in India and investigates how Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies relate to those conflicts. It has generated significant attention and interest in India and worldwide recently.

“The documentary was rigorously researched according to the highest editorial standards. A wide range of voices, witnesses, and experts was approached, and we have featured a range of opinions, including responses from people in the BJP [India’s ruling party]. We offered the Indian Government a right to reply to the matters raised in the series – it declined to respond,” the spokesperson added.”

The Indian Government slams the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question!

The BBC’s two-part series titled “India: The Modi Question” on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, lacks objectivity, shows bias, and maintains a colonial attitude. Arindam Bagchi, a spokesperson for the MEA, stated during the weekly press briefing in New Delhi that please be aware that India has not yet seen this documentary. In our opinion, this is propaganda meant to forward a specific, debunked thesis. There is bias, a lack of objectivity, and a persistent colonial worldview.

If anything, this movie or documentary critiques the organization and people who are once again pushing this story. It causes us to question the goal and motivation of this practice. We honestly don’t want to give such efforts any respect.

UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak disagrees with the Characterisation of India’s PM Modi in India: The Modi Question!

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke in the parliament about the BBC documentary.

Imran Hussain, a British MP, asked the UK’s PM:

“He [Modi] was, in the FCO’s own words, ‘directly responsible for the violence.’ Given that hundreds were brutally killed and that families across India and the world, including here in the UK, are still without justice, does the prime minister agree with his diplomat in the foreign office that Modi was directly responsible, and just what more does the foreign office know of his involvement in this grave act of ethnic cleansing?”

To which PM Rishi Sunak replied:

“Mr. Speaker, the UK government’s position on this has been clear and long-standing and hasn’t changed. Of course, we don’t tolerate persecution where it appears anywhere, but I am not sure I agree with the characterization that the honorable gentleman has put forward.”

Indian Government orders YouTube and Twitter to take down  Links sharing BBC documentary India: The Modi Question!

Per the directions, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued multiple Youtube videos containing the first episode of the two-part documentary India: The Modi Question has been blocked. With Youtube videos, over 50 tweets containing links to those videos have also been blocked.

Indian PM Narendra Modi and BBC documentary India: The Modi Question!

The leader of the biggest democracy in the world, Narendra Modi, is primarily regarded as the most influential politician of his generation. He was twice elected as India’s prime minister. He has been courted as a crucial friend by the US and the UK because the west sees him as a crucial defense against Chinese dominance in Asia.

However, concerns about how Narendra Modi’s administration treats the Muslim minority of India have persisted throughout Modi’s tenure as prime minister. By examining the truth behind these claims and Modi’s past, this series tackles additional concerns about Modi’s politics toward India’s most significant religious minority.

Narendra Modi’s views on his new BBC iPlayer documentary on Twitter

PM Modi is not speaking much about the documentary. However, his new tweets are as follows:

India has invoked Emergency Laws to Ban the new Narendra Modi Documentary

The Information and Broadcasting Secretary reportedly used emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021, to block the first episode of the BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ on Friday. What exactly are these abilities?
Rule 16 of the IT Rules, 2021 — formally known as the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 — notified on February 25, 2021, describes the government’s power in the event of an emergency.

Time of India: Government blocks YouTube videos and tweets; retired officers and veterans call docuseries ‘delusional reporting.’

According to the article in Times of India, sharing videos of ‘India: The Modi Question’ on YouTube has been blocked by the Government of India. Twitter has also been advised by the Centre to take down the 50 links to the concerned YouTube Videos.

How are the publishers from Bahrain reviewing the Modi documentary on BBC?

Nasdaq has recently published an article saying

“The BBC said its documentary on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was rigorously researched, responding to criticism from the Indian foreign ministry which had earlier called it propaganda. The documentary was rigorously researched according to highest editorial standards”

India: The Modi Question Episode Guide

Episode #1 of India: The Modi Question| January 17, 2023.

This episode follows Narendra Modi’s entry into politics, including his affiliation with the right-wing Hindu organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, his ascent through the Bhartiya Janata Party, and his appointment as chief minister of Gujarat, where his handling of a series of riots in 2002 continues to be a contentious issue.

What will happen in Episode #2 of India: The Modi Question| January 24, 2023?

The documentary’s second episode might be even more provocative. It evaluates the performance of Narendra Modi’s administration following his 2019 reelection. In conjunction with several divisive policies, such as the removal of Kashmir’s special status granted by Article 370 of the Indian constitution and a citizenship law that many thought unfairly targeted Muslims, there have been violent attacks on Muslims by Hindus.

What is the IMDb rating of India: The Modi Question?

The IMDb rating of India: The Modi Question is 7.2/10.

FAQs

Where can I watch India: The Modi Question?

If you’re trying to find how and where to watch India: The Modi Question, the mini-doc series’ second episode will air on January 24, 2023, on BBC Two.

The episodes will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

How to watch BBC Documentary on Narendra Modi in Australia?

BBC iPlayer is not available in Australia due to geo-restrictions. However, people of Australia can watch the documentary India: The Modi Question using a reliable VPN.

Is India: The Modi Question based on a true story?

Yes. India: The Modi Question is a docuseries based on India’s famous Gujrat Riots 2002.

Can I watch India: The Modi Question Online?

Yes. You can watch India: The Modi Question’s second episode on Hulu on January 24, 2023. The first episode is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

How to watch India: The Modi Question in Canada?

Due to geographical restrictions, people of Canada can’t access BBC iPlayer. However, you can watch the documentary by using a reliable VPN.

Will India: The Modi Question be available on Netflix, Disney+, and Paramount?

No. India: The Modi Question will not be unavailable on Netflix, Disney+, and Paramount.

Where to watch India: The Modi Question in Australia for free?

By getting a good quality VPN, you can watch India: The Modi Question for free in Australia on BBC iPlayer.

Other platforms streaming India: The Modi Question

You can watch the docuseries on Sky TV as well.

Where to watch India: The Modi Question in New Zealand for free?

New Zealanders can watch Narendra Modi’s documentary for free on BBC iPlayer.

Where to watch India: The Modi Question in Canada for free?

Great news for Canadians! You can also watch The Modi Question for free on BBC iPlayer now!

Where to watch India: The Modi Question in USA for free?

You can watch The Modi Question for free in The United States on BBC iPlayer now!

Where can I watch India: The Modi Question in Qatar and Bahrain?

Indians living in Gulf, including Qatar, Bahrain, and UAE, can watch the documentary series for free on BBC iPlayer.