British interference in Indian Elections
BBC's biased documentary about Modi is in the same class as Russian interference in US elections.
It was claimed that the Russians interfered with the US election in 2016, defeating Hillary Clinton in Trump's favour. The alleged interference was run by companies and individuals not directly connected with the Russian Government or with Putin. But, these individuals were Russians or had tied to Russia. They allegedly used technology - Twitter bots, Facebook amplifiers, etc. - to influence the US general population to vote for Trump. These individuals planted fake or incomplete stories with distorted allegations to create outrage.
Now here is BBC publishing a documentary a year before the general elections in India where Modi is seeking a third term as Prime Minister. BBC comes with a fake and incomplete story with distorted allegations designed to create outrage. British taxpayers fund the BBC. So why is this not election interference by a foreign government in India’s internal affairs?
What is the BBC documentary?
The BBC released a documentary making allegations about Modi’s role in the Gujarat religious riots of 2002. Indians were exasperated at this old trope being brought out by international media once again.
The brief history is that Gujarat has had religious riots for decades and definitely since 1947. During this time, it was ruled mainly by the Congress party. BJP was in power in Gujarat since 1998. Modi was appointed Chief Minister in Oct 2001 following the ill health of his party leader. He handled the immediate aftermath of Bhuj earthquake rehabilitation, and in February 2002, five months after taking office, there was a massive riot.
The riot was instigated by a Muslim mob of 1000+. The mob surrounded a train and locked a train compartment (capacity of 1500 people) returning from Ayodhya. They pushed gasoline-doused mattresses and locked and welded the compartment, and set it ablaze, killing the occupants (numbers disputed). The resulting backlash erupted across Gujarat as Hindu-Muslim clashes.
The central allegation against Modi was that Modi, being Chief Minister of that State (albeit only in his 5th month), encouraged this riot or, at the very least, did not act to allow rioters to kill Muslims.
From 2002, the Media cabal and Congress Central Government were intent on finding one bit of evidence, one deviation from the norm, to hang Modi. This vindictive campaign against Modi ran for 12 years and went to Supreme Court twice. Supreme Court of India formed a committee under its direct supervision and found Modi not Guilty. The actions of the state are a matter of record, and all of Modi’s actions were found to be timely and upholding the status and dignity of his office.
Modi was re-elected in 2002, 2007 and 2012 as chief minister of Gujarat. He secured substantial votes from Muslims during each of these three terms. More importantly, there has been no religious riot since 2002 in Gujarat. The documentary glosses over all inconvenient issues.
The standard template of the Congress-sponsored anti-Modi campaign was to give part of the story, and the Congress-sponsored leftist media would hype up the allegations and suppress the facts. This cycle has been run at least a dozen times between 2002-2012, each time ending with a Modi victory in Gujarat. The template was rerun for another 10 times starting in 2014 when Modi was announced as the Prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 elections. Modi won in 2014 and won a full majority in 2019. Now it will be run again for the 2024 elections. This documentary is just the same template in another form.
Why the documentary, and why now?
First, the aim of the documentary is not to further journalistic values or to arrive at facts. It is to give ammunition to those who intend to create a religious divide within India. Those break-India forces have the advantage of limited attention spans and outrage algorithms to create hatred. This documentary is meant to give credence to conspiracy theories to create whispers and unrest.
Second, the documentary aims to draw a reaction from the Indian government to ban it. This act of banning will trigger the rest of the international break-India forces, including NYT, WaPo and the US gang, Al-Jazira, Economist and other Murdoch press to jump on this crusade. Expect this to happen in Feb- May 2023.
Third, the break-India forces have a network of radical Islamist mullahs who will now feed this fact - a documentary was released, banned, and all international media is “supporting” it - to fan hatred. This hatred will create foot soldiers and fodder for the Islamic radicals to create riots and unrest. The expected timeline should be April-Oct 2023.
Fourth, as the foot soldiers are ready and armed, you will find break-India politicians from radical Islamic camps will issue a call to action. The foot soldier will create riots and disruptions around Aug-Nov 2023, around Diwali.
Fifth, you will find international media running a campaign on “religious intolerance in India” around Oct to Dec 2023, seeking Christian donations to add fuel to the fire.
Finally, if all goes per their dastardly plan, expect some protests along the template used for the CAA or the Farm protest model to create an equivalent of the Orange revolution in India. These will be financed from overseas. If they are not stopped, you will end up with Modi losing the election in 2024 with a hung vote. The Victoria Nulands of the world will then promote Arvind Kejriwal as the prime ministerial candidate.
Then why did India ban the documentary?
First, India is using the playbook used by Singapore. Lee Kwan Yew was critical of the foreign press manipulating religious sentiments in the city-state. He used censorship when foreign press indulged in such acts. Singapore values religious comity more than a free press, and it is not wrong. However, when LKY did it, it was a different age. Today internet does not allow censorship to work.
Second, whether India banned or did not ban, the outcome would be the same. So why not ban it? At least now, we can raise this issue as an issue of election interference by another sovereign.
But what is a good response to the documentary?
There are various options here. This response template can be used against all anti-India actions that may be coming up:
Official way - The External Affairs Ministry can create some pressure. This has to be done under the radar. UK and India have strategic ties, and clearly, the UK government does not support that documentary, as evidenced by the speech of the UK Prime Minister.
Semi-official way - Some have purported that the real target of the documentary is the Hindu prime minister of the UK, Rishi Sunak. This can also help India’s official position against the documentary.
Another Semi-Official way - Encourage the Indian diaspora to campaign with the British Government to spend their tax pounds wisely by not sponsoring such crap. Indian diaspora (British citizens of Indian Origin) has considerable weight as a voting block.
Documentary v documentary - The most apt response is to create an Indian documentary that discredits the BBC narrative. The documentary should aim to create an emotional response to BBC interference across all religions. It could highlight that BBC is jealous as India, a former colony, overtook the UK as 5th largest economy. In fact, in the right hands, this can be used to promote religious unity and anti-BBC sentiment. If this sounds immoral or ridiculous to you, it is. But the rules of information warfare are murky and we will get our hands dirty.
Counter-strike BBC- There is good scope for a sting operation on the BBC reporters and producers. Indian media can take up that challenge.
Counter-interference - If the documentary has the clandestine backing of the UK government, then we need to create awareness about Scottish independence and Irish struggles. There will be no dearth of subjects if you want to expose the British.
Prepare the public - Alert the people that global powers seek to interfere in the country. They want to keep India poor and they cannot do so with corruption so they do with manipulation. Get people to ask who sponsors the break-India politician, who sponsors the radical fanatics. Expose the money trails and catch the culprits.
In Sum
Frankly, as I highlighted in a previous post titled Beware of 2023 - India Edition, I am not surprised. There will be more interference. India must be prepared and proactive.