The US State Department Spokesperson stated that the United States is unfamiliar with the BBC documentary, but it is aware of the shared “democratic values” that unite Washington and New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the then Gujarat’s Chief Minister at the time of the 2002 Gujarat riots, according to the contentious two-part BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” which has generated controversy.
Ned Price, a spokesperson for the US State Department, told reporters during a news conference in Washington, DC on Monday that Washington and New Delhi maintain an “exceptionally deep partnership” built on principles shared by both the US and Indian democracies.
When a Pakistani journalist probed Price on the BBC documentary, Price said, “I’m not familiar with the (BBC) documentary (on 2002 Gujarat riots) you’re referring to. I am very familiar with the shared values that connect the United States and India as two thriving, vibrant democracies.”
Price cited the political, economic, and people-to-people linkages as factors supporting Washington’s worldwide strategic alliance with New Delhi. “What I will say broadly is that there are a number of elements that undergird the global strategic partnership that we have with our Indian partners. There are close political ties. There are economic ties. There are exceptionally deep people-to-people ties between the US and India.”
The first of the two-part series, which aired on BBC Two last week, was described as “a look at the tensions between Indian PM Narendra Modi and India’s Muslim minority, investigating claims about his role in 2002 riots that left over a thousand dead” by the United Kingdom tax-payer funded broadcaster.
Tuesday’s airing of the second part of this series is billed as a “look at the difficult relationship between Indian PM Narendra Modi’s government and India’s Muslim minority following his re-election in 2019.” The BBC Panorama documentary, which has not been broadcast in India, has been denounced by the Indian government as being a “propaganda piece” with dubious motivations.
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