Sunak defends PM Modi over BBC documentary on Gujarat riots

Ahmedabad, 19/1: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has come out in defence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a controversial BBC documentary claimed that the British government was aware about the Indian leader having an alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

During Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, an Opposition Labour Party MP raised the claims made in the first part of ‘India: The Modi Question’ that UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) knew the “extent of Narendra Modi’s involvement”, then Gujarat chief minister, in the communal clashes that claimed hundreds of lives.

 

Pakistani-origin Imran Hussain, member of Parliament for Bradford East, asked Sunak if he agreed with claims in the BBC programme that some UK Foreign Office diplomats believed that “Modi was directly responsible”.

 

“The UK government’s position on that is clear and long-standing, and it has not changed,” Sunak responded