“In a letter to BBC Director General Lord Tony Hall dated May 19, Priti Patel, British prime minister David Cameron’s Indian diaspora champion, brought to notice the complaints she received about BBC Newsnight aired May 16, which covered the day the results of India’s general elections were announced.” – DNA
A British Indian MP has strongly criticised the BBC for a programme on India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi that she stated was not objective.
In a letter to BBC Director General Lord Tony Hall dated May 19, Priti Patel, British prime minister David Cameron’s Indian diaspora champion, brought to notice the complaints she received about BBC Newsnight aired May 16, which covered the day the results of India’s general elections were announced.
“Many in the British Indian community, particularly those of Gujarati origin, were offended by the reporting about prime minister-elect Narendra Modi,” Patel, the MP from Britain’s Witham constituency in Essex, stated.
She pointed out that the programme’s presenter, Yalda Hakim, referred to Modi as a “controversial figure” from the beginning of the programme.
“Modi’s political opponents have portrayed him as being ‘controversial’, so by using this reference, the BBC, who should be impartial, is giving acceptance to the political position of Modi’s opponents rather than reporting objectively,” Patel stated.
“The term ‘controversial‘ could be used to describe a large number of politicians, which is why many people in Britain’s Indian community believe its use purely in relation to Modi in the news item was unbalanced.”
She also referred to the fact that the programme focussed on Modi’s so-called involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots without going into the details thereafter.
Patel was particularly irked by the fact that the programme featured a British Indian artist named Anish Kapoor who was critical of Modi.
“The decision to interview Kapoor and portray him as an expert on Indian politics is bizarre,” she stated.
“Kapoor has spent the last 40 years living in the UK and is an artist. He has no record as an expert on politics or commentator on Indian affairs. Moreover, the presenter did not offer sufficient or adequate challenge to the assumptions he made about the elections and comments he made about Modi.”
Patel also drew the BBC director general’s attention to the introductory part of the programme which had Kapoor stating that “India’s dreamed itself a dream with a mass murderer as its main character”.
“Although the presenter asked him what he meant by mass murderer, she did not challenge him to provide evidence to support his claim. Claiming someone who is a democratically elected politician is a ‘mass murderer’ is an extremely serious allegation and unless such a claim is substantiated with meaningful evidence, the BBC should not be broadcasting this slur.”
Patel also took exception to the fact that Kapoor referred to the Indian general elections as “supposedly democratic”. – DNA, 1 June 2014
Filed under: india, UK | Tagged: anish kapoor, anti-hindu media, BBC, geopolitics, gujarat riots, india, media, media bias, narendra modi, planted news, priti patel, psychological warfare, tv, UK, yalda hakim |
BHARATA BHARATI 
those are worst sinner and begin day with slaughter of animals and birds, issue certificates to peoples who are far far better than them. perhaps too much tolerance is taken as weakness. now each and every onslaught must be repulsed with full strength.
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BBC usually an anti-Hindu channel. This is my experience, living in UK for the last 50 years.
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It is good that Indians are taking up the challenge and questioning the deliberately biased portrayal of Indian politicians by media abroad. The label ‘mass murderer’ should be applied more fittingly to all the American presidents who sanctioned war in Vietnam., Iraq. etc. Above all it should apply to Winston Churchill who was responsible for the death of millions in Bengal by his deliberate policy of denying the needed foodgrain in spite of having stock. Indeed, he is fit to have been tried at Nuremberg. According to Martin Gilbert, the holocaust victims number 5.75 million. while Bengali victims number about 3 million, even according to Amartya Sen, an acknowledged friend of the West. (See: Madhusree Mukerjee: Churchill’s Secret War, Tranquebar,2010 p.271) This was caused by nothing other than Churchill’s dislike of Indians, (self admitted, for which adequate evidence exists) as much as the holocaust was the result of Hitler’s dislike of Jews.
For an objective assessment of what happened in Gujarat and Modi’s performance, BBC should consult its own compatriot Andy Marino and his well researched and documented book “Narendra Modi-A Political Biography” ( Harper Collins India,2014 ) even if they pretend not to have heard of the findings of the SIT appointed and monitored by the Indian Supreme Court, which still follows Anglo-Saxon Jurisprudence.
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The BBC programme on Modi shows that it is a slipshod and highly biased views peddler.
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