New Delhi: Opposition parties Tuesday slammed the government over the IT surveys at BBC offices as “heights of dictatorship” and “intimidation tactics”, while the BJP put up a staunch defence of the probe, alleging the British broadcaster is “most corrupt” and has unleashed “venomous” propaganda against India.
As the action by the Income Tax against the international media group sparked an outcry from opposition parties, the BJP said the “timing of the action was not decided by any government or outside power” and the department should be allowed to do its work.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said no one was above the law and the Income Tax department would share details about the survey.
Addressing a press conference, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said the IT action is lawful and lashed out at the opposition for giving the BBC a “clean chit” without the agency concluding its probe. They should not politicise the issue, he added.
“If any agency or company operates in India whether it is connected to media or other work, it will have to abide by the local laws,” he said.
The Income Tax Department conducted survey operations at the BBC’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion, officials said. The development came weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part controversial documentary, “India: The Modi Question”, with the government blocking access to it at various social media platforms.
The opposition parties linked the IT action with the documentary.
The UK-based public broadcaster said that it was “fully cooperating” with the authorities and hoped that the situation will be resolved “as soon as possible”.
While there has been no official statement from the UK government related to the IT action, British sources said they are “closely monitoring” the reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the BBC in India.
Terming the Income Tax survey operation at the BBC offices “intimidation tactics” , the Congress alleged that the action shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism while Bhatia was trenchant in his criticism of the BBC, calling it the “most corrupt” organisation which has little regard for India’s Constitution while it works from here.
Bhatia claimed that the BBC has a “tainted and black history of working with malice against India”.
“BBC propaganda and Congress agenda go together. The Congress should remember that its own leader and former prime minister Indira Gandhi had imposed a ban on the BBC,” he said, hitting out at the main opposition party.
“Why can’t they wait? Why is the Congress always standing with the anti-national forces,” Bhatia said, describing it as a routine survey and claiming that the broadcaster was issued a notice earlier with the survey coming after the organisation did not respond.
He cited BBC’s past reports, including the one which described a terrorist as a “charismatic young militant”, a likely reference to slain terror operative Burhan Wani, and allegedly called Holi a “filthy” festival.
Union Minister Thakur said the Income Tax Department conducts surveys from time to time wherever there were some irregularities. “When the surveys are over, it issues a press note or holds a press briefing to share information. I believe that when the I-T Department will complete its survey, it will share details with you,” the minister said.
“No one can be above the law of the country,” he told reporters in Mumbai’s Kalyan when asked about the Income Tax surveys.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Time and again, there has been an assault on freedom of the Press under the Modi Government. This is done with brazen and unapologetic vengeance to strangulate remotely critical voices.”
“No Democracy can survive if institutions are used to attack Opposition and Media. People will resist this,” he said in a tweet.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that while the party is demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe on the Adani issue, the “government is after the BBC”.
He also used a Hindi idiom to attack the government, saying “Vinash Kale, Viprit Buddhi” (When doom approaches, a person’s intellect works against his interest).
The Aam Aadmi Party alleged that the IT actions show that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached the “heights of dictatorship”.
“First, imposed a ban on the BBC documentary. Now raids at their offices. Don’t forget Modi ji, Hitler’s dictatorship also came to an end. Your dictatorship will also end,” AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who is also the party’s national spokesperson, said in a tweet in Hindi.
“Modi ji, you have reached the heights of dictatorship,” the AAP leader said.
The CPI(M) also hit out at the Centre as its leader Sitaram Yechury took a swipe at the Prime Minister over the phrase “mother of democracy”, a term often used by Modi to highlight the country’s democratic ethos.
Yechury said, “First ban BBC documentaries. No JPC/inquiry into Adani exposures. Now IT raids on BBC offices! India: ‘Mother of democracy’?”
In her reaction, TMC MP Mahua Moitra asked if the “raids” on the BBC offices would be followed by one on “Mr A” in an apparent dig at Adani Group chief Gautam Adani.
“Since agencies doing these Valentine Day ‘Surveys’ how about @IncomeTaxIndia, @SEBI_India & @dir_ed conduct one on govt’s most valued sweetheart Mr. A?” she said in a tweet tagging SEBI and the Enforcement Directorate.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti alleged that it was “brazen hounding” of “those who speak the truth” by the BJP-led government.
Hitting back at critics, Bhatia said when India is marching ahead globally under Modi’s leadership, many powers do not like it.
He claimed that the Congress, its leader Rahul Gandhi and other opposition parties also feel “pained” by the country’s rise under Modi.
Accusing the opposition Congress of supporting “anti-national” forces, he said, “Your hate for Modi is so much that you politicise even a probe agency’s work. You always question constitutional authorities such as the Supreme Court and the Election Commission.”
He said India gives opportunity to every organisation and individual as long as they are willing to abide by the Constitution and do not have hidden agendas and “spew venom” against the country.
The BBC, however, does “venomous and shallow” reporting on India, he alleged.
“The BBC wishes to operate in India yet refuses to respect the icons of the country. In a BBC programme, its presenter had the temerity to say that Mahatma Gandhi had failed in his attempt to liberate India in 1946,” Bhatia said.
The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday said it was “deeply concerned” about the IT surveys at the offices of BBC India and termed it as a continuation of a “trend” of using government agencies to “intimidate and harass” media outlets critical of the ruling establishment.
In a statement, the Guild also demanded that great care and sensitivity be shown in all such investigations not to undermine the rights of journalists and media organisations.
PTI