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New Delhi: The British Parliament raised concerns about the BBC’s coverage of the consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22. During a parliamentary session, a member expressed his reservations and termed the report “biased”, urging the UK-based public broadcaster to present a more impartial account of global events.
“Last week in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, the Ram Mandir was consecrated. This was of great joy to Hindus across the world as being the birthplace of Lord Ram. Very sadly, the BBC, in their coverage reported, of course, that this was the site of the destruction of a mosque, forgetting the fact that it had been a temple for more than 2,000 years before that happened and that the Muslims had been allocated a five-acre site on which to erect a mosque adjacent to the town,” UK Member of Parliament Bob Blackman said.
The Conservative MP for Harrow East further called for a debate “in government time on the impartiality of the BBC” and their “failure” to provide a “decent record of what is actually going on all over the world.”
In a post on X, Blackman also addressed the concerns raised by the constituents, emphasising the impact of media coverage on communal harmony.
“Constituents have raised concerns surrounding the BBC’s biased reporting of the Ram Mandir temple. As an avid supporter of the rights of Hindus, this article has caused great disharmony. The BBC must be able to provide a decent record of what is going across the world,” Blackman wrote.
🛕Constituents have raised concerns surrounding the BBC’s biased reporting of the #RamMandir temple.
🇬🇧🤝🇮🇳 As an avid supporter of the rights of Hindus, this article has caused great disharmony.
🌏The BBC must be able to provide a decent record of what is going across the world. pic.twitter.com/htSzyey2u4
— Bob Blackman (@BobBlackman) February 2, 2024
It is to be noted that BBC, in its report on January 22, had stated that the grand temple in Ayodhya replaces a “16th-century mosque razed by Hindu mobs in 1992.”
Meanwhile, the BBC has issued a response to the complaints from several readers who termed the coverage as being “biased against Hindus” and having used “inflammatory language.”
The UK national broadcaster said it believes the report was a “fair and accurate account of what happened”.
The readers “objected to us reporting in the headline that the temple had been built on the site of a 16th- Century mosque which we explained in the second paragraph of the story had been ‘torn down by Hindu mobs in 1992’. We believe that to be a fair and accurate account of what happened. We also mentioned that ‘many Hindus believe the Babri mosque was built by Muslim invaders on the ruins of a temple where the Hindu god (Ram) was born’ and we provided more context, reporting on the 2019 Indian Supreme Court judgement which gave the disputed land to Hindus, who form 80% of India’s population. We do not agree that the article was demeaning to Hindus,” the BBC said in its response.
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