(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/25/2023) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on both YouTube and Twitter owner Elon Musk to restore full access to a BBC documentary that exposes Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in anti-Muslim ethnic cleansing that occurred in 2002.
Twitter and YouTube were ordered by the Indian government to block links to the two-part documentary, “India: The Modi Question,” citing emergency powers under its information technology laws. The documentary examines Modi’s using Hindu nationalism to target India’s Muslim minority. It looks at his role in the 2002 violence in the Indian state of Gujarat, when Modi was chief minister, which left almost 2,000 people dead. The majority of the victims of the violence were Muslims.
[NOTE: Twitter has reinstated several previously suspended Hindu nationalist accounts that disparaged Muslims.]
Some of the accounts that were suspended had been reported for posting hate speech aimed at religious minorities in India, according to groups that reported them. Upon their return in recent weeks, some have tweeted material denigrating Muslims and others.
An official of India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said both Twitter and YouTube “have complied with the directions” to block the BBC documentary. The BBC said the documentary was “rigorously researched according to the highest editorial standards.”
SEE: Elon Musk’s Twitter Bows to India Request to Censor Links to BBC’s Narendra Modi Doc
Indian Ban on BBC Modi Film Puts Musk’s Twitter ‘Free Speech’ to the Test
Modi’s BJP political party have sought to transform India into a Hindu nation and that nation’s Muslims have increasingly been targeted by Islamophobic hate. Islamophobia in India is even being exported to target Muslim communities in the United States.
SEE: CAIR-NJ, IAMC Welcome Legislators’ Condemnation of Bulldozer at India Day Parade
India: Surge in Summary Punishments of Muslims (Human Rights Watch)
In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“We call on both Twitter and YouTube to stop censoring a BBC documentary that exposes acts of horrific, anti-Muslim violence enabled by India’s far-right leader Narendra Modi. If the Indian government wants to ban Twitter and YouTube for letting the people of India see the truth, so be it. But social media companies should not bow down to the irrational and baseless demands of a genocidal wannabe dictator.”
He noted that CAIR has repeatedly called for India to be designated as Country of Particular Concern (CPC) by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent, bipartisan federal government commission.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com CAIR National Communications Coordinator Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com