UK defends BBC independence, says investing heavily' in relationship with India
London, Feb 2: The UK government has defended the BBC as a media outlet "independent in its output" in the wake of widespread Indian diaspora protests against the controversial documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing reporters at Downing Street on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson echoed a statement issued by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in Parliament earlier this week to add that the government continues to invest in its relationship with India.
"The BBC is independent in its output and we would stress that we continue to regard India as an incredibly important international partner," the spokesperson said in response to a question about India's condemnation of the documentary India: The Modi Question' questioning the then chief minister's role in the 2002 Godhra riots.
"We will be investing heavily in our relationship with India over the coming decades and we're confident it will only go from strength to strength," the spokesperson said.
It followed a similar response by Cleverly in the House of Commons on Tuesday, when he responded to a question from a Conservative Party colleague on the assurances the UK government had given to India in the wake of coordinated diaspora protests against the BBC over the weekend.
"I recently had the opportunity to speak to the Indian High Commissioner, Vikram Doraiswami, on this and a number of other issues," the foreign minister told MPs.
"We recognise how this portrayal of the Indian government has played out in India. I made it clear that the BBC is independent in its output, that the UK regards India as an incredibly important international partner and that we will be investing heavily in that relationship in the coming decades," he said.
The minister was responding to a question by Tory MP Bob Blackman, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Hindus, who termed the documentary as "anti-India propaganda" and asked about the steps taken to "reassure our Commonwealth partner that this propaganda is not the policy of this government".
Cleverly met Doraiswami during the India Global Forum's UK-India Parliamentary Lunch last week and addressed the gathering of parliamentarians and business leaders on strengthening bilateral ties across all spheres.
"On trade, we are well into the negotiations of what has all the hallmarks of being a genuine global standard bilateral trade relationship, because we have this wonderful bilateral relationship which I like to think of as unique," he said at the time.
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Opposition leaders hold protest in Parliament House complex over Adani issue
New Delhi (PTI): Several opposition party leaders on Tuesday held a protest in the corridors of Parliament House and raised slogans demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani issue.
They also hung a banner that read "We want JPC" from the first floor of Parliament building.
TMC MPs held a separate protest in Parliament complex and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi break his silence on the Adani issue.
Accusing the government of helping businessman Gautam Adani by not ordering a probe into allegations of fraud levelled against his group, the party demanded that Adani be arrested.
Leaders of opposition parties had earlier met in Parliament complex and decided to press for a JPC probe into the Adani issue.
Leaders of opposition parties, including the Congress, DMK, RJD, CPI-M, CPI, NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT), JDU, JMM, IUML, AAP, MDMK, attended the meeting in the chamber of Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge.
Both houses of Parliament were adjourned till 2 pm Tuesday amid uproar over the Adani issue and demand by ruling party members that Rahul Gandhi apologise for his democracy remarks.
"This morning Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, @kharge ji was given permission by the Chairman to speak. He got up to do so but was not allowed by sloganeering BJP MPs. Chairman then adjourned RS. How can the logjam be broken if Modi Govt behaves like this," AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter after the House was adjourned.
The opposition parties have been demanding a JPC probe into the Adani Group issue, saying only a JPC can bring out the truth in the matter, after US based Hindenburg Research report made allegations of financial irregularities and stock manipulation by the Adani Group.
The Adani group has denied the allegations and said no wrongdoing has been done by it.
