A US State Department spokesperson has stated that the US shares "deep democratic values" with India and that the US is not familiar with the recent BBC documentary "India: The Modi Question."
The two-part series, which investigated certain aspects of the 2002 Gujarat riots when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state, has been condemned by the Indian government as a "propaganda piece" with a questionable agenda.
The US State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, emphasized that Washington has a "global strategic partnership" with New Delhi based on political, economic, and people-to-people ties. The Biden administration has chosen to distance itself from the documentary.
Also read|7 dead in 2nd California shooting within days
When a Pakistani journalist probed Price on the BBC documentary, Price said: “I'm not familiar with the (BBC) documentary (on 2002 Gujarat riots) you're referring to. I am very familiar with the shared values that connect the United States and India as two thriving, vibrant democracies.”
“What I will say broadly is that there are several elements that undergird the global strategic partnership that we have with our Indian partners. There are close political ties. There are economic ties. There are exceptionally deep people-to-people ties between the US and India,” he added, as the Biden administration chose to distance itself from the British documentary," he added.
The BBC has recently released a two-part documentary series titled "India: The Modi Question" which examines the tensions between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India's Muslim minority, specifically investigating claims about his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots that resulted in the deaths of over a thousand people.
Also read|Exchange of messages on nuclear deal revival continues: Iran
The second part of the series, set to air on Tuesday, delves into the troubled relationship between Modi's government and India's Muslim minority following his re-election in 2019.
The Indian government has strongly criticized the documentary and dubbed it as a "propaganda piece" with a questionable agenda. The government has taken measures to block multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the documentary. Despite this, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended Modi, stating that he did not agree with the way the Indian prime minister was characterized in the documentary.
