BBC Plans to Showcase Documentaries on Hinduism, will Explore Faith and Ethical Issues

August 08, 2017: A new documentary strand of five films a year will be showcased on BBC One will explore faith and ethical issues in all the major religions in exciting and contemporary new ways, including Hinduism.

Hindus called the step in the positive direction and welcomed BBC for the idea of producing films on Hinduism.

BBC will project Hinduism in these films accurately and it will be based on the ancient Hinduism scriptures and not reimagine Hinduism concepts and traditions to fit its programs.

As per the 2016 report in The Sunday Times, "The BBC is too Christian in its religious output, according to an internal review, and should increase its Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh programming".

[bctt tweet="Hinduism, the third largest religion in the world has about 1.1 billion adherents and moksha (liberation) is its ultimate goal." username="NewsGramdotcom"]

As per the sources, Hinduism was highly underserved at BBC. Multiculturalism had been growing fast in the UK because of which it was now a diverse society formed of various religions and denominations and non-believers, however, BBC had not kept pace with it.

It was time for the superfluous religious production at BBC to end, giving way to uniformly distributed time among various religions/denominations/non-believers.

Adequate coverage of Diwali, Holi, Krishna Janmashtami, Maha Shivaratri, Ram Navami, Ganesha Chaturthi, Navaratri, Duserra, Hanuman Jayanti, Makar Sankranti, Yugadi and other Hindu festivals, must also be covered by BBC.

Hymns from ancient Sanskrit scriptures, contemporary bhajans, and Hindu lessons should constantly form part of BBC One's 54 years old "Songs of Praise", one of the world's longest-running religious television series.

Hindu hymns, songs, and faith stories were highly stimulating, warm and engaging. Moreover, God liked all songs-of-praise, notwithstanding the religion these came from.

ALSO READ: More Than Just a Sign: Decoding Hinduism With These 5 Major Symbols

The intervention of The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is a must in this multi-faith issue. Its priorities included people, communities, and nations learning to live together with diversity in a spirit of love and respect.

BBC, whose 'values' included "celebrate our diversity" and "great things happen when we work together" and whose 'purposes' included "reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities", should show some development on this issue.

[bctt tweet="BBC should take religion more seriously, and help us build interconnections and create harmony" username="NewsGramdotcom"]

BBC labeled "yoga" as "fad" in 2013 and Hindu festival of Holi as "filthy festival" in 2012 to which it apologized later. BBC has been accused of racism, imperialist stance, Indophobic bias, anti-Hindu bigotry, anti-American bias, etc in the past.

Launched in October 1922, headquartered in London, and established by a Royal Charter, BBC claims to be the "world's leading public service broadcaster". Every UK viewer needs to have a TV License, which costs £147.