'Politics by another means': Jaishankar says BBC documentary's timing is not 'accidental'

Stating that the timing of the BBC's documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not "accidental", External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on Tuesday called it "politics by another means". He also advised people to not get fooled by such agendas and challenged the propagator to come into the political field.

In a conversation with ANI's Editor-in-Chief Smita Prakash, Jaishankar said, "We are not debating just a documentary or a speech that somebody gave in a European city or a newspaper edits somewhere -- we are debating, actually politics, which is being conducted ostensibly as media -- there is a phrase 'war by other means' this is politics by another means -- I mean you will do a hatchet job, you want to do a hatchet job and say this is just another quest for truth which we decided after 20 years to put at this time."

The External Affairs Minister also questioned the timing of the documentary which comes just a year before the 2024 general elections. "I mean, come on, you think timing is accidental! Let me tell you one thing - I don't know if the election season has started in India, Delhi or not, but, for sure it has started in London, New York," he added.

BBC recently released a documentary titled 'India: The Modi Question' on the 2002 Gujarat riots. The film disregarded Supreme Court's clean chit to PM Modi. 

'I mean, do you doubt it?': EAM on western media's bias against PM Modi

When asked about some western media's bias against Prime Minister Modi, he said, "I mean, do you doubt it? Look who the cheerleaders are. What is happening is, just like I told you -- this drip, drip, drip -- how do you shape a very extremist image of India, of the government, of the BJP, of the Prime Minister. I mean, this has been going on for a decade."

He said that motive behind planting such stories is to further the anti-India agenda. "Why suddenly there is a surge of reports and attention and views? I mean, were some of these things not happening earlier. Many things happened in Delhi in 1984, why don't we see a documentary on that? If that was your concern, you suddenly feel one day, 'I am very humanistic, I must get justice for people who have been wronged', " said Jaishankar.

Further, he advised people to not get fooled by agendas and challenged the propagator to come into the political field.

"This is politics at play by people who do not have the courage to come into the political field. They want to have that Teflon cover saying that I am an NGO, media organisation etc. They are playing politics," Jaishankar asserted.