11 ms·

Honestly, a lot of the documentary is a mixture of interviews and CCTV camera footage with a fairly even handed narrative on the top – it, by itself, isn't that

Honestly, a lot of the documentary is a mixture of interviews and CCTV camera footage with a fairly even handed narrative on the top – it, by itself, isn't that shocking and certainly isn't presented in a particularly sensationalist way. I'm amazed by the reaction it has generated. Yes, there's some post-colonial history there and it doesn't look great that it's the BBC that has made it, as opposed to, say, a US or continental European broadcaster. Still, nevertheless, when you see videos of policemen beating up (usually female) students with canes because they've had the audacity to protest, it can't help but make you think. If you're interested, you can get it (legally) in the UK here: [1] and searching for "India: the Modi question" will most likely provide it elsewhere. [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0dkb144/india-the-modi-question-series-1-episode-1 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0dkb144/india-the-mod...

gorbachev 4y ago
Authoritarian leaders/movements always respond to criticism by attacking the people doing it.
largepeepee 4y ago
>policemen beating up (usually female) students with canes because they've had the audacity to protest, it can't help make you think. Tbf, having seen the COVID lockdown footage of how they would beat up even larger businessmen in suits with their canes, I can't say I am surprised. It is quite an insane sight for anyone outside the culture.
- iamshs 4y ago
  In Punjab, during Covid lockdown Police made people crawl on all fours on national highways for violation of curfew orders. Assaulted people with lathis (cane-charge, another colonial rule legacy). And then newspapers here write every year about infamous "crawling order" passed by Gen. Dyer before the Jallianwala Massacre.
iamshs 4y ago
Imagine saying "post-colonial history" about a massacre done by Hindu revivalist movement started and benefited most from the colonial times. This "post-colonial" term has been weaponized by RSS-BJP and plays to their advantage now. Imagine if they can raid BBC offices, what happens to normal press corps.
- SanjayMehta 4y ago
  Curious to know why you think the BBC should be exempt. The head of the BBC is in hot water for arranging a loan for the then British PM, Boris Johnson.
  - iamshs 4y ago
    What post-colonial narrative does BBC spew? If you see BBC regional languages programs, you will see that it platforms RSS-BJP's Hindu Nationalistic rhetoric to a far greater degree.
    - rayiner 4y ago
      Western notions of what liberal democracy should look like (multi-cultural, multi-religious, etc.) is a colonial imposition on India: https://unherd.com/2021/04/the-culture-wars-of-post-colonial-india/ https://unherd.com/2021/04/the-culture-wars-of-post-colonial...
      - tptacek 4y ago
        "Meanwhile, Hindu nationalists have been courting allies against their Leftist antagonists, which sometimes results in strange connections to Western white nationalists", writes the Taki's Magazine contributor. Perhaps in this one instance, the West's notion of what liberal democracy should look like is correct. Not every idea the liberal west has is, but the alternatives to these two ideas are horrible.
        rayiner 4y ago
koheripbal 4y ago
[flagged]
- tompagenet2 4y ago
  “They tend to always produce negative pieces about…” is quite an unevidenced statement. I would think fair journalism would produce negative pieces on a lot of people, and perhaps those where the relationship isn’t going well might stick in the mind more. More generally though, what’s the game plan here if, as your comment seems to posit, there could be (or could be seen to be) an ulterior motive. UK has left EU. Wants trade partners. Not going as well with India as it could. So make documentary to make it go worse? I’m not sure how this would be the BBC being the puppet of the government.
  - berdario 4y ago
    > “They tend to always produce negative pieces about…” is quite an unevidenced statement. There are whole books of evidence for that https://www.medialens.org/2017/preferred-conclusions-the-bbc-syria-and-venezuela/ https://www.medialens.org/2017/preferred-conclusions-the-bbc... > what’s the game plan here if, as your comment seems to posit, there could be (or could be seen to be) an ulterior motive. UK has left EU. Wants trade partners. Not going as well with India as it could. So make documentary to make it go worse? There are multiple competing interests at play. Ultimately, improving relationship with India (at the expense of burying what I presume is a legitimate criticism and investigation on BJP) is just not worth as much as the alternative.
- sriram_malhar 4y ago
  I am an Indian and I personally know of few _more_ credible outlets than BBC. They take on their own government and monarchy. Unfortunately, many generations of WhatsApp fake news has convinced that anyone who is not of the "Mr. M is God" persuasion is basically anti-national, not patriotic, not credible. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru are considered villains, and Gandhi's killer has been elevated to God status. To your other comment though, given Rishi "our own son" Sunak and the jostling of power between China and the west, I'm not sure the relationship between the countries is going poorly. All major Indian national media has been completely compromised and thugged into submission. There are brave alternate and small liberal media that still have the courage to cover them. Some links for your viewing pleasure. Scroll.in: https://scroll.in/tag/Gujarat-Riots https://scroll.in/tag/Gujarat-Riots Telegraph: https://www.telegraphindia.com/topic/gujarat-riots https://www.telegraphindia.com/topic/gujarat-riots The Wire: https://thewire.in/tag/2002-gujarat-riots https://thewire.in/tag/2002-gujarat-riots And for fact checking news, there is https://www.altnews.in https://www.altnews.in
capableweb 4y ago
> If you're interested, you can get it (legally) in the UK here And if you happen to be belong to the rest of the ~99.13% world population, you can grab it here: Episode 1 - magnet:?xt=urn:btih:3C378A82CF67A1107523CA6C647077403A1EF74D&dn=India+The+Modi+Question+S01E01+1080p+HDTV+H264-DARKFLiX&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.dler.org%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopentracker.i2p.rocks%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F47.ip-51-68-199.eu%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.internetwarriors.net%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2920%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.pirateparty.gr%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.cyberia.is%3A6969%2Fannounce Episode 2 - magnet:?xt=urn:btih:F55992F922B9A0E49C09E198835F0F06EE07635B&dn=India+The+Modi+Question+S01E02+1080p+HDTV+H264-DARKFLiX&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.dler.org%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopentracker.i2p.rocks%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F47.ip-51-68-199.eu%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.internetwarriors.net%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2920%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.pirateparty.gr%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.cyberia.is%3A6969%2Fannounce
- adwww 4y ago
  Ha there is no way that 99% of the world population know what to do with those links / hashes / whatever they are.
  - kinleyd 4y ago
    You'd be surprised.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - rmbyrro 4y ago
    They'll have ChatGPT sort it for them.
skilled 4y ago
I think a better question is, "Who is causing this reaction?". As in, who is the person who cannot bear this and is it because the ego is being bruised, or because it portrays India in a certain manner? Maybe some of these world leaders should consider therapy seeing as they can't handle their own problems by themselves and rather punish people around them for it.
- sidibe 4y ago
  I think the point might actually be to remind the public what Modi did (or didn't do), which was and is very popular in India as abhorrent as it is to the West. He can't openly brag about it but he can make sure everyone remembers before the next election by making it such a huge story. Bonus if it stirs up tension at the right time
  - salawat 4y ago
    It's called realpolitik; and the rest of the world should be calling it like it is. Modi may be able to brush off the English as patronizing assholes who have no right to lecture India on anything; but that doesn't change the fact he's playing by a Hitler-lite playbook, and speedrunning European rhetoric circa 1930-1945, with the serial numbers filed off. The British/Irish and the Troubles, the Germans and the Jews; it's really not that hard to perceive the direction things are being steered. That the rest of the world is not more openly hostile to this type of atrocity is more frightening to me than anything else. But eh, "India's problem, and we have bigger fish to fry". Mark my words: this won't be the end, and the ensuing bloodshed will be a stain on the state for many years to come. People like this are why we cannot have nice things.
- _fat_santa 4y ago
  Another victim of the Streisand effect. Modi's reaction to the documentary has done far more damage than just the documentary by itself. It's like the BBC released this doc and Modi's government is giving it free marketing worldwide with the outsized reaction. This would have been just another docuseries on the BBC had they not reacted like this. Now everyone is sharing links and wanting to see what the fuss is all about.
rayiner 4y ago
“Some post-colonial history there” is quite an understatement.
mihaaly 4y ago
Apparently it struck too close to home. Unleashing tax officials on an organization painting a negative picture (well, not, Modi and accoplice paint it, the BBC only presents it) is a failed attempt of masquerading an authoritarian government overstepping their limits of governance. If they were honest and not coward they would simply tell: 'Shouldn't uncover our dirty laundry, get out of here or will get hurt!' They only highlight not cover this way what we already suspect of India being an elective dictatorship (similar to Hungary).
- miroljub 4y ago
  > Unleashing tax officials on an organization painting a negative picture (well, not, Modi i and accoplice paint it, the BBC only presents it) is a failed attempt of masquerading an authoritarian government overstepping their limits of governance. Isn't that what every government do? Remember that Al Capone went to jail because of tax issues, the government couldn't prove anything he was accused to. If you look at Germany, Michael Ballweg is sitting in jail (without trial) for tax evasion accusations. The fact that the government didn't like his movement that protested against unconstitutional anti-covid measures was not enough reason to put him there. Almost every government has a history of unleashing a tax department on their political enemies. We call it a legal state when it happens in our country, and a state terror when it happens in another. A cynic in me would say that, in this case, India is learning from the best democracies in the world, US and Germany. EDIT: I'm not saying Al Capone did not do tax evasion, or that Ballweg had all his books 100% clean. In any remotely complex tax system, it's not even possible, since there is always enough place for interpretation. But the fact that some guys are prosecuted just because government doesn't like them, and the ones that government likes get away with it, is unfortunately properly of almost every legal system, democracies included. In the end, Modi's government may find a lakh or two of expenses not filled properly and punish BBC with 20 krores. My point is just that this is not unique to India, and one should not look down at India and call out on it for doing what everyone else is doing.
  - aww_dang 4y ago
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-conservative/justice-department-settles-with-conservative-groups-over-irs-scrutiny-idUSKBN1CV1TY https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-conservative/just... > The U.S. Justice Department has reached a settlement with dozens of conservative groups that claimed the Internal Revenue Service unfairly scrutinized them based on their political leanings when they sought a tax-exempt status, court documents showed.
LinuxBender 4y ago
The two parts appear to be on Rumble [1][2] It seems that yt-dlp [3] works with Rumble so you don't even have to visit the site. [1] - https://rumble.com/v26y14s-india-the-modi-question-part-1-by-bbc.html https://rumble.com/v26y14s-india-the-modi-question-part-1-by... [829.13MiB via yt-dlp] [2] - https://rumble.com/v271ob0-india-the-modi-question-part-2-by-bbc.html https://rumble.com/v271ob0-india-the-modi-question-part-2-by... [341.35MiB via yt-dlp] [3] - https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git
dev2023 4y ago
[flagged]
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

gorbachev 4y ago

Authoritarian leaders/movements always respond to criticism by attacking the people doing it.

largepeepee 4y ago

>policemen beating up (usually female) students with canes because they've had the audacity to protest, it can't help make you think. Tbf, having seen the COVID lockdown footage of how they would beat up even larger businessmen in suits with their canes, I can't say I am surprised. It is quite an insane sight for anyone outside the culture.

iamshs 4y ago
In Punjab, during Covid lockdown Police made people crawl on all fours on national highways for violation of curfew orders. Assaulted people with lathis (cane-charge, another colonial rule legacy). And then newspapers here write every year about infamous "crawling order" passed by Gen. Dyer before the Jallianwala Massacre.

iamshs 4y ago

Imagine saying "post-colonial history" about a massacre done by Hindu revivalist movement started and benefited most from the colonial times. This "post-colonial" term has been weaponized by RSS-BJP and plays to their advantage now. Imagine if they can raid BBC offices, what happens to normal press corps.

SanjayMehta 4y ago
Curious to know why you think the BBC should be exempt. The head of the BBC is in hot water for arranging a loan for the then British PM, Boris Johnson.
- iamshs 4y ago
  What post-colonial narrative does BBC spew? If you see BBC regional languages programs, you will see that it platforms RSS-BJP's Hindu Nationalistic rhetoric to a far greater degree.
  - rayiner 4y ago
    Western notions of what liberal democracy should look like (multi-cultural, multi-religious, etc.) is a colonial imposition on India: https://unherd.com/2021/04/the-culture-wars-of-post-colonial-india/ https://unherd.com/2021/04/the-culture-wars-of-post-colonial...
    - tptacek 4y ago
      "Meanwhile, Hindu nationalists have been courting allies against their Leftist antagonists, which sometimes results in strange connections to Western white nationalists", writes the Taki's Magazine contributor. Perhaps in this one instance, the West's notion of what liberal democracy should look like is correct. Not every idea the liberal west has is, but the alternatives to these two ideas are horrible.
      - rayiner 4y ago

koheripbal 4y ago

[flagged]

tompagenet2 4y ago
“They tend to always produce negative pieces about…” is quite an unevidenced statement. I would think fair journalism would produce negative pieces on a lot of people, and perhaps those where the relationship isn’t going well might stick in the mind more. More generally though, what’s the game plan here if, as your comment seems to posit, there could be (or could be seen to be) an ulterior motive. UK has left EU. Wants trade partners. Not going as well with India as it could. So make documentary to make it go worse? I’m not sure how this would be the BBC being the puppet of the government.
- berdario 4y ago
  > “They tend to always produce negative pieces about…” is quite an unevidenced statement. There are whole books of evidence for that https://www.medialens.org/2017/preferred-conclusions-the-bbc-syria-and-venezuela/ https://www.medialens.org/2017/preferred-conclusions-the-bbc... > what’s the game plan here if, as your comment seems to posit, there could be (or could be seen to be) an ulterior motive. UK has left EU. Wants trade partners. Not going as well with India as it could. So make documentary to make it go worse? There are multiple competing interests at play. Ultimately, improving relationship with India (at the expense of burying what I presume is a legitimate criticism and investigation on BJP) is just not worth as much as the alternative.
sriram_malhar 4y ago
I am an Indian and I personally know of few _more_ credible outlets than BBC. They take on their own government and monarchy. Unfortunately, many generations of WhatsApp fake news has convinced that anyone who is not of the "Mr. M is God" persuasion is basically anti-national, not patriotic, not credible. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru are considered villains, and Gandhi's killer has been elevated to God status. To your other comment though, given Rishi "our own son" Sunak and the jostling of power between China and the west, I'm not sure the relationship between the countries is going poorly. All major Indian national media has been completely compromised and thugged into submission. There are brave alternate and small liberal media that still have the courage to cover them. Some links for your viewing pleasure. Scroll.in: https://scroll.in/tag/Gujarat-Riots https://scroll.in/tag/Gujarat-Riots Telegraph: https://www.telegraphindia.com/topic/gujarat-riots https://www.telegraphindia.com/topic/gujarat-riots The Wire: https://thewire.in/tag/2002-gujarat-riots https://thewire.in/tag/2002-gujarat-riots And for fact checking news, there is https://www.altnews.in https://www.altnews.in

capableweb 4y ago

> If you're interested, you can get it (legally) in the UK here And if you happen to be belong to the rest of the ~99.13% world population, you can grab it here: Episode 1 - magnet:?xt=urn:btih:3C378A82CF67A1107523CA6C647077403A1EF74D&dn=India+The+Modi+Question+S01E01+1080p+HDTV+H264-DARKFLiX&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.dler.org%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopentracker.i2p.rocks%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F47.ip-51-68-199.eu%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.internetwarriors.net%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2920%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.pirateparty.gr%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.cyberia.is%3A6969%2Fannounce Episode 2 - magnet:?xt=urn:btih:F55992F922B9A0E49C09E198835F0F06EE07635B&dn=India+The+Modi+Question+S01E02+1080p+HDTV+H264-DARKFLiX&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.dler.org%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopentracker.i2p.rocks%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F47.ip-51-68-199.eu%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.internetwarriors.net%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2920%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.pirateparty.gr%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.cyberia.is%3A6969%2Fannounce

adwww 4y ago
Ha there is no way that 99% of the world population know what to do with those links / hashes / whatever they are.
- kinleyd 4y ago
  You'd be surprised.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- rmbyrro 4y ago
  They'll have ChatGPT sort it for them.

skilled 4y ago

I think a better question is, "Who is causing this reaction?". As in, who is the person who cannot bear this and is it because the ego is being bruised, or because it portrays India in a certain manner? Maybe some of these world leaders should consider therapy seeing as they can't handle their own problems by themselves and rather punish people around them for it.

sidibe 4y ago
I think the point might actually be to remind the public what Modi did (or didn't do), which was and is very popular in India as abhorrent as it is to the West. He can't openly brag about it but he can make sure everyone remembers before the next election by making it such a huge story. Bonus if it stirs up tension at the right time
- salawat 4y ago
  It's called realpolitik; and the rest of the world should be calling it like it is. Modi may be able to brush off the English as patronizing assholes who have no right to lecture India on anything; but that doesn't change the fact he's playing by a Hitler-lite playbook, and speedrunning European rhetoric circa 1930-1945, with the serial numbers filed off. The British/Irish and the Troubles, the Germans and the Jews; it's really not that hard to perceive the direction things are being steered. That the rest of the world is not more openly hostile to this type of atrocity is more frightening to me than anything else. But eh, "India's problem, and we have bigger fish to fry". Mark my words: this won't be the end, and the ensuing bloodshed will be a stain on the state for many years to come. People like this are why we cannot have nice things.
_fat_santa 4y ago
Another victim of the Streisand effect. Modi's reaction to the documentary has done far more damage than just the documentary by itself. It's like the BBC released this doc and Modi's government is giving it free marketing worldwide with the outsized reaction. This would have been just another docuseries on the BBC had they not reacted like this. Now everyone is sharing links and wanting to see what the fuss is all about.

rayiner 4y ago

“Some post-colonial history there” is quite an understatement.

mihaaly 4y ago

Apparently it struck too close to home. Unleashing tax officials on an organization painting a negative picture (well, not, Modi and accoplice paint it, the BBC only presents it) is a failed attempt of masquerading an authoritarian government overstepping their limits of governance. If they were honest and not coward they would simply tell: 'Shouldn't uncover our dirty laundry, get out of here or will get hurt!' They only highlight not cover this way what we already suspect of India being an elective dictatorship (similar to Hungary).

miroljub 4y ago
> Unleashing tax officials on an organization painting a negative picture (well, not, Modi i and accoplice paint it, the BBC only presents it) is a failed attempt of masquerading an authoritarian government overstepping their limits of governance. Isn't that what every government do? Remember that Al Capone went to jail because of tax issues, the government couldn't prove anything he was accused to. If you look at Germany, Michael Ballweg is sitting in jail (without trial) for tax evasion accusations. The fact that the government didn't like his movement that protested against unconstitutional anti-covid measures was not enough reason to put him there. Almost every government has a history of unleashing a tax department on their political enemies. We call it a legal state when it happens in our country, and a state terror when it happens in another. A cynic in me would say that, in this case, India is learning from the best democracies in the world, US and Germany. EDIT: I'm not saying Al Capone did not do tax evasion, or that Ballweg had all his books 100% clean. In any remotely complex tax system, it's not even possible, since there is always enough place for interpretation. But the fact that some guys are prosecuted just because government doesn't like them, and the ones that government likes get away with it, is unfortunately properly of almost every legal system, democracies included. In the end, Modi's government may find a lakh or two of expenses not filled properly and punish BBC with 20 krores. My point is just that this is not unique to India, and one should not look down at India and call out on it for doing what everyone else is doing.
- aww_dang 4y ago
  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-conservative/justice-department-settles-with-conservative-groups-over-irs-scrutiny-idUSKBN1CV1TY https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-conservative/just... > The U.S. Justice Department has reached a settlement with dozens of conservative groups that claimed the Internal Revenue Service unfairly scrutinized them based on their political leanings when they sought a tax-exempt status, court documents showed.

LinuxBender 4y ago

The two parts appear to be on Rumble [1][2] It seems that yt-dlp [3] works with Rumble so you don't even have to visit the site. [1] - https://rumble.com/v26y14s-india-the-modi-question-part-1-by-bbc.html https://rumble.com/v26y14s-india-the-modi-question-part-1-by... [829.13MiB via yt-dlp] [2] - https://rumble.com/v271ob0-india-the-modi-question-part-2-by-bbc.html https://rumble.com/v271ob0-india-the-modi-question-part-2-by... [341.35MiB via yt-dlp] [3] - https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp.git

dev2023 4y ago

[flagged]

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]