Worldview with Suhasini Haidar | BBC-Adani | Is Indian diplomacy on the defensive?

In this episode of Worldview, we discuss the recent raids on the British Broadcaster BBC. While government officials point to an international conspiracy by colonial powers to defame India- Is Indian diplomacy on the defensive?

In this episode we are trying to dissect official speculation that has now become a part of Indian diplomacy- on an alleged foreign hand at work to run down India’s development- So while in previous episodes we have spoken about Disaster diplomacy, Diaspora diplomacy, Neighbourhood diplomacy etc, this week we will focus on Defensive diplomacy, which is a big part of what the MEA and Indian diplomats in Embassies worldwide have to do

What Happened?

1. BBC- Britain’s public broadcaster, that works under the Government’s Department of Media, but is independent, aired a 2 part documentary last month, that raised questions about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role as CM of Gujarat, virtually accusing him of being complicit in the killings of 2000 in the Gujarat riots of 2002. The second part looked at the actions of the Modi government at the centre since 2019, and accused it of instigating and condoning majoritarian violence.

Neither parts of the documentary were made available by the BBC to viewers in India.

- The government banned part 1 of the documentary, but did not ban part 2

- The MEA issued a strong statement, accusing the BBC of a colonial mindset

 External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi said, “Let me just make it very clear that we think this is a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative. The bias, the lack of objectivity, and frankly a continuing colonial mindset, is blatantly visible.”