Jammu, Jan 24: Amid a row over the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said any kind of ban, oppression and frightening people are not going to stop the truth from coming out.
The government on Friday had directed social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links to the documentary titled "India: The Modi Question".
The Ministry of External Affairs has criticised the documentary as a "propaganda piece" that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset.
Asked about the issue at a press conference during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi said, "If you read our scriptures, if you read Bhagavad Gita or you read the Upanishads, you will see in it, it is written that the truth cannot be hidden. The truth always comes out."
"So, you can ban, you can suppress the press, you can control the institutions, you can use CBI, ED all the stuff, but, the truth is the truth. Truth shines bright. It has a nasty habit of coming out. So, no amount of banning, oppression and frightening people is going to stop the truth from coming out," he said.
The Congress on Saturday had criticised the government for the "censorship" of the BBC documentary, asking why had then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee reminded Modi of 'raj dharma' after the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has slammed the controversial documentary, saying India's image cannot be disgraced with "malicious campaigns".
The Centre has told YouTube and Twitter to take down fresh links to the documentary if someone uploads or tweets them again, according to sources.
The MEA had condemned the BBC documentary, which has not been screened in India, alleging it was designed "to push a particular discredited narrative".
"The bias, lack of objectivity and continuing colonial mindset is blatantly visible," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had told reporters during a press briefing in New Delhi last week when asked about the controversial series.
A Supreme Court-appointed investigation had found no evidence of wrongdoing by PM Modi, who was chief minister of Gujarat when the riots broke out in February 2002.
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Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.
The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.
"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.
The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.
There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.
Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.
The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) November 24, 2024