Guwahati: Freedom of expression is not a licence for deception. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said this on March 22, after the Assam assembly passed a resolution against BBC’s documentary “India: The Modi Question”.
The Assam Assembly on March 21 adopted a resolution to condemn the documentary aired by the BBC on the Gujarat riots.
Taking to Twitter, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote, “Assam Assembly has adopted a resolution to condemn the malicious documentary recently aired by the BBC to malign India’s growing international standing and foment domestic instability.”
“The House has collectively demanded that strictest action be taken against those responsible.”
“Let it be made clear in no uncertain terms that in New India there will be a democratic but proportionate response against those who profit by tarnishing Bharat’s image”, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma further wrote.
Sharing the resolution adopted by Assam Assembly against BBC
Let it be made clear in no uncertain terms that in New India there will be a democratic but proportionate response against those who profit by tarnishing Bharat’s image
Freedom of expression is not a license for… pic.twitter.com/sFmSl982qi
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) March 22, 2023
Earlier, on March 22, addressing the assembly, the Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had condemned the documentary and questioned its timing while adding that the allegations made against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the documentary are totally false and pure propaganda.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the documentary was aired at a time when India was entrusted with the presidency of G20, and Assam also got the opportunity to host five meetings of the summit in the State. The documentary is a planned propaganda which is a bid to highlight its malicious intent sponsored by an anti-India lobby.
The assembly expressed concerns about the documentary and observed that it was a propaganda and “malicious and dangerous” agenda propagated through ‘India: The Modi Question’ created by BBC.
The Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma also questioned BBC’s coverage of India’s history, including the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre and asked if the BBC criticised the British government when the very young Kanaklata Baruah was murdered in Assam or when Tileswar Barua was shot and killed in Dhekiajuli in Assam.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma further questioned how the BBC could try to disrepute the PM of India after the Supreme Court of the country gave him a clean chit? He said that people may have had their opinions and observations about the Prime Minister, but since the Supreme Court, in its 2022 verdict, gave a cleanshit to the PM, then how could the BBC air such a controversial documentary and publish it in India?
It may be noted that
In June 2022, the Supreme Court of India had given PM Modi a clean chit in the case while quashing allegations of a larger conspiracy by Zakia Jafri, the widow of Congress leader Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the 2002 riots. The Supreme Court had observed that the failure on the part of certain officials cannot be inferred as a ‘state-sponsored crime’ against the minority community.”
