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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Archery WC: India win compound men, women team gold
Shanghai (PTI): India men's and women's compound teams dished out dominant displays to win gold medals at the ongoing Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai here on Saturday.
India's Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur dropped just four points to trounce Italy 236-225 in the women's compound team event to open their account with a gold in the season-opening global showpiece.
The men's team of Abhishek Verma, Priyansh and Prathamesh Fuge went one step better as they missed just two points en route to defeating Netherlands' Mike Schloesser, Sil Pater and Stef Willems 238-231.
The women's team, who qualified as top seed, dropped just four points from 24 arrows to down sixth seeded Italy.
In the first three ends of six arrows each, Jyothi, Aditi and Parneet missed the perfect 10 only twice to take a handsome 178-171 lead over Marcella Tonioli, Irene Franchini and Elisa Roner.
In the fourth end, the Indians dropped two points but it did not matter much as they nailed the gold with an 11-point margin.
The men's team, who qualified as the fourth seed, put up a near flawless show to defeat their Dutch opponents.
They began with a perfect round of 60 and dropped just two points in the next two ends, before sealing the rout with another perfect 60 in the final set of six arrows.
