The US on Wednesday stressed the importance of a free press in the context of the Indian government’s efforts to block access to the BBC documentary, India: The Modi Question, but did not criticise New Delhi directly.

Asked whether the Narendra Modi government’s move to ask certain social media intermediaries to take the documentary down was an issue of press freedom or of freedom of expression, US state department spokesperson Ned Price said: “I’ll say, generally, when it comes to this, we support the importance of a free press around the world.”

He said: “We continue to highlight the importance of democratic principles, such as freedom of expression, freedom of religion or belief, as human rights that contribute to the strengthening of our democracies.

“This is a point we make in our relationships around the world. It’s certainly a point we’ve made in India as well.”

The question posed to Price was: “This is about a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Modi. We have seen that Indian Government banned that documentary, also shutting down universities, colleges, and even banned all social media links. Do you think it’s a matter of press freedom or freedom of speech?”

Last weekend, the information and broadcasting ministry is said to have issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos which carried the first episode of the two-part documentary.

Similarly, the microblogging site Twitter was asked to block over 50 tweets that contained links to YouTube uploads of the documentary, which the external affairs ministry had earlier described as a “propaganda piece” that reflected a colonial mindset.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an “At Home” reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Republic Day. PTI