"BBC documentary nothing more than Chinese-inspired initiative": Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Jethmalani

New Delhi: Senior Advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Jethmalani on Friday said that the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "nothing more than a Chinese-inspired initiative".
The MP further said that BBC has had a "long history of anti-India output propaganda". "More than 150 million pounds is being placed with Chinese state-owned companies. So they are completely financially dependent on them and they have a long history of anti-India output propaganda. This is showing that BBC is completely financially interlocked with China, through Chinese state-owned companies. The documentary basically is nothing more than a Chinese-inspired initiative," Jethmalani told ANI.

Earlier today, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and sought its response to a plea seeking direction to restrain the Central government from censoring the BBC documentary relating to the 2002 Gujarat Riots.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh asked the Central government to file its response within three weeks and posted it for hearing in April.
The bench refused to pass interim order on the plea saying it cannot pass any interim order without hearing the government and directed it to produce all records on the next hearing date.
"We direct respondents to produce original records on the next date of hearing," the bench stated in its order.
The Centre on the basis of the secret order blocked the documentary and on the basis of this secret order, universities are taking action against students for screening the documentary, Singh said.
As per the sources, on January 21, the Centre issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary. (ANI)