Washington, D.C. | www.mpac.org | January 28, 2023 — The Modi government’s blocking of BBC’s new documentary on the 2002 Anti-Muslim Gujarat Riots is another move in an increasingly troublesome pattern of stifling of dissent in India.

Earlier this month, students around the country planned to screen the documentary despite the fact that it was banned. The government’s response was swift: at one university, police wearing riot gear prevented students from entering the venue for the documentary screening. At least 4 people at Jamia Millia Islamia University were detained by the police on the charge of “unauthorized gathering.” In New Delhi, at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), government agents cut off power and the internet a day before JNU students’ planned screening. 

These latest incidents align with an alarming pattern of the erosion of democracy in India under Modi’s BJP government– and a larger pattern of the erosion of democracy under right-wing authoritarian leaders across the globe. Just as Gujarati officials under Modi stood by during the massacre in 2002, the Modi administration has repeatedly turned a blind eye to anti-Muslim rhetoric, violence, and lynchings; even worse, it has taken an active role in targeting minority Muslims in a myriad of ways including Islamophobic immigration policies and the ongoing destruction of mosques and historical Muslim landmarks.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council denounces the Indian government for its violent suppression of students attempting to watch the documentary, its continued willful negligence in protecting the rights of Indian Muslims as a minority, and its scapegoating of Indian Muslims as it undermines the secular foundations of Indian Democracy. 

We urge the Biden administration to demand answers from Prime Minister Modi for this undemocratic attempt at censorship and for preventing Indians from watching this documentary that sheds light on one of the darkest moments in recent history for Indian Muslims.

Click here to read our full statement.