On Thursday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs called the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question a “propaganda work” that reeked of a “continuing colonial mindset” and questioned its motivations.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain said, “I’m not sure that I agree with all the characterisation,” in response to a specific comparison to Prime Minister Narendra Modi made by a British lawmaker.

At the weekly briefing, when asked about the Indian government’s reaction to the documentary, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stressed that the film had not been shown in India and that the answer was based on information provided by the Indian high commission in London.

The documentary can be viewed on BBC iPlayer, which “only works in the UK,” as the site states.

Some viewers with access to iPlayer have been downloading and uploading the documentary on YouTube over the previous number of days, but their videos have since been taken down for copyright reasons. This movie has been removed by the uploader,” reads the message on one such link.

As Bagchi put it, “We think this is propaganda aimed to support a specific discredited story. It’s easy to see the partiality, lack of objectivity, and, to be honest, the persistence of a colonial worldview.

This documentary, if nothing else, is a commentary on the organisation and individuals responsible for re-pushing this story. There seems to be an ulterior motive and questionable aim to this exercise, and we refuse to give them any credence.

One particular section of the documentary that has angered the Indian government is when ex-British foreign secretary Jack Straw is heard claiming on camera that he authorised a government inquiry into the Gujarat carnage and sent a team to the state to find out what happened.

Bagchi responded,

“I heard phrases like ‘inquiry,’ ‘investigation,’ when asked if India could confirm the existence of such a report and if New Delhi was bringing it up with London.

”We referred to this mentality as a “colonial mindset” for a reason. A term is not used carelessly here. With what question may I ask? These people were in fact diplomats. Investigation! Is the government in their hands?”