GUWAHATI: Despite strong opposition from many political parties, including Congress, AIUDF (All India United Democratic Front) and CPI-M, Assam Legislative Assembly today passed a resolution to take “strict” action against BBC for airing a documentary that was used as a tool to “defame” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Sankalpa Resolution moved by BJP MLA Bhuban Chandra Pegu said that BBC seems to be working with a hidden agenda against the country and the government of India.
The resolution sought the state legislature to ask the Central government to take strict action against the “fabricated BBC documentary”.
BBC published a documentary about an incident that happened 20 years ago and it was nothing but an “agenda” against Modi whose prestige, image and leadership have been appreciated internationally, the resolution stated.
It also added that the documentary overlooks the courts in India, including the Supreme Court, and the state government-appointed Nanavati Commission, which gave a clean chit to the then chief minister of Gujarat.
Replying to the debate over the resolution, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that all these allegations of involvement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the erstwhile state government of Gujarat have been found false by a three-member judge bench of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court even criticized some of the NGOs and opposition parties for pursuing the case.
“We can’t avoid two more things in the House. We live in a globalised forum. We have to keep in our mind the time at which the BBC released the documentary. They released the documentary at a time when India led by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to assume the Presidency of G20 meetings in the country,” Sarma said.
Justifying that the issue has a concern with Assam, Sarma said that the BBC had released the documentary at a time when delegates from other countries came to Assam for G20 meetings. There are five G20 meetings which are taking place in the state in February and March, he said.
“The timings should have been before the judgement of the Supreme Court. It is a political agenda. Assam hosted five meetings at the G20 Summit. It is not only a matter of pride for PM Modi but all citizens of India,” the chief minister said.
“The way the BBC criticise India, why they were silent over the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, why they were silent over Patharughat massacre? Why they were silent on Kanaklata Barua’s killing? They never go against the colonialism of the British,” Sarma said.
“They are now hatching a political conspiracy against India because India has surpassed this colonial country in GDP growth. Under the leadership of PM Modi, India has attained 5th position in the world in GDP growth. Earlier India was in 11th position in the world. We will be 4th within 2027,” he said.
“We may have an internal issue. But we should not allow a foreign agency to hurt our PM even after a clean chit by the Supreme Court. Why they did not release the documentary before the Supreme Court judgement? It's all about India’s judiciary. Judiciary has proved it as a political conspiracy,” he further said.
“As we stood against colonialism, we should stand against the BBC. They know that they will not come under the Indian judiciary. They are taking advantage of the immunity. We should give a message that you are not above the Indian judiciary. You cannot go ahead of the judgement passed by the Indian judiciary,” he added.
Earlier, moving his Sankalpa Resolution in the House, BJP MLA Bhuban Chandra Pegu said, “It is on being perturbed by the systematic attack that has been engineered to malign India's global standing, that I would like to request this House to move this resolution against the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) malicious two-part documentary, the 'Modi Question'.”
“We the members of this House believe that the documentary has sought to instigate religious communities and flare religious tensions,” Pegu said.
Opposing the resolution, Opposition leader Debabrata Saikia said the issue is not an issue concerned with the state government as according to rule 117 (G), only matters primarily concerned with the state government should be brought up for discussion.
“The BBC is a foreign agency and the Central government is taking action against them. So it is a less important issue for us,” Saikia said.
He said that all citizens including the press have the right to freedom of speech.
Congress leader Bharat Chandra Narah urged the House to withdraw the resolution and discuss other important issues in the House.
CPI-M MLA Manoranjan Talukdar, AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam, and Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi also opposed the resolution and urged for withdrawal of the resolution from the House.
As the opposition members staged a walkout from the House, the resolution was passed in the House in a voice vote.
