Thread by @gauravsabnis

I have noticed a lot of people posting links to the videos of the BBC documentary.

https://twitter.com/sPuNk_11/status/1617199803364175875

Some people have shared the first 8 minutes. Which are quite revealing on their own. #BBCDocumentary

https://twitter.com/arjunsethi81/status/1617195591838072836?t=81uSkDYc1NDPm0W4_Je3EQ&s=19

This is getting coverage in many countries including France.

Blocking the BBC is not a move usually pulled by democracies. It is entirely the domain of authoritarians. By blocking the BBC in an official government capacity, Modi makes waves everywhere.

https://twitter.com/A_Chastagner/status/1617433527926013954?t=SLLU_S-tZUL4mqWa0gomRg&s=19

The idea that the BBC, of all possible outfits, is engaged in "propaganda" and that too "colonial propaganda" is such an absurd notion almost anywhere in the world. Even in the very inward looking US, BBC is trusted more than any national US media entity.

Bohot bada panga liya

Accusing the BBC of propaganda, especially in 2023, is like accusing David Attenborough of animal cruelty and climate change denial. I mean their own government has no control over them. They don't need advertiser money thanks to the license fee. What propaganda? 🤷🏽🤷🏽🤷🏽

This bizarre panga, even using the Ministry of External Affairs, is probably where their usual "enemies of India" reflexive excuse jumps the shark.

Cos really, BBC is doing "propaganda" against you? That sounds crazy anywhere in the world outside bhaktlandia.

In plain geopolitical terms, this really weakens Modi on the global scale.

How many leaders have been at the winning end of a fight with the BBC?

NYT, of course everyone loves to trash.

But banning BBC is historically the beginning of the end for most leaders.

Even within bhaktlandia, I'm hearing murmurs of "overreaction by Modi" cos most bhakts, from Savarkar to Modi, adore anything British. And that includes BBC. Most sanghi uncles swear by the BBC & good iskaatch!

So that's a cognitive dissonance internally too, I'm hearing.

It is clear that Modi watched the documentary and was very upset at how accurately it shows the reality and made it personal and is causing the Streisand Effect as other voices within sangh are like, bro, tu kis se panga le raha hai? Gautam or Mukesh can't buy it!

The more strategic minded sanghi would have preferred that the gormint would have just bashed the doc, and hoped people forget about it in a week or two.

But blocking the BBC?

World's biggest democracy blocking the world's most trusted news source?

That's global headlines!

Any country in the world with a real news media is going to carry the "India blocked BBC 😱😱" news. And wonder why. And find out it's about Modi. And look up the documentary.

And even in the first 8 minutes, you get the point.

https://twitter.com/arjunsethi81/status/1617195591838072836?t=v0jhMvxjNda600bG9HSLaA&s=19

All over the world, people will feel curious about the documentary. And find it on archive.org which I don't think blocks stuff at gormint requests.

archive.org/details/narend…