Complaint
This series examined the experiences and lives of older members of the Indian diaspora. A listener objected to a reference in this episode to “the Gujarat” rather than “Gujarat” which they considered inaccurate and culturally insensitive. The ECU considered whether the programme met the relevant BBC Guidelines.
Outcome
In the ECU’s view the use of “the Gujarat” was unlikely to have misled listeners, as it quite clearly referred to the state of Gujarat, which was created in 1960. Although sounding like an archaism, its capacity to cause offence also seemed very limited, particularly since the generation of expatriates which left India from Gujarat at that time might well have used a term which conveyed its identity before it became a state.
Not Upheld