Current affairs

IT raids at BBC offices in India: How BBC and the political leaders have reacted to the searches?

By alagu, 14 February, 2023
Narendra Modi, BBC documentary on Modi, BJP

The unprecedented raids by the Indian Income Tax department at British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) offices in India have certainly conferred a nationwide solidarity to the BBC as the national leaders and top journalists have been slamming the BJP regime over rolling out the searches at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai, weeks after the broadcasting group had released documentaries that went against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

On Tuesday- February 14, the IT sleuths have stormed the BBC offices and the development had attracted a sharp attention from across the country. The BBC employees attached to its Delhi office had faced a disruption as it has been reported that their phones have been seized. The employees have also been asked to leave the office and go home early. 

Some of the employees who were working in the morning shift were held back at the Delhi office. A major part of them belong to the editorial teams. The employees who are into the afternoon shift were asked to work from home. The employees of a global news network were questioned by the IT sleuths and on the other hand, the IT dpeartment's Delhi team had also monitored the BBC premises in Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex area. In BBC's another office in Mumbai's Khar, the employees were asked to go home. 

It has been reported that the IT department has conducted the searches across the BBC's offices over allegations of irregularities in international taxation and transfer pricing. As part of the raids, the department is sifting the documents pertaining to the business operations of the BBC and those related to its Indian unit. ANI has quoted the sources saying that the Income Tax officials reached BBC's Delhi and Mumbai offices today. They are doing verification of certain documents in the Account of Finance Department of the BBC. Department has impounded a few mobile phones, laptops, and desktops of the employees of account and finance departments. 

The IT officials have said that the survey was an exercise to check the news broadcaster's accounts, and not a raid. As the events have made headlines, the BBC put out its first response amidst the searches and tweeted, "The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible." Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said that the BBC is a corrupt organisation. 

Responding to the criticism from the Congress party on the raids, Bhatia said that the Congress always stands against nation and with the anti-national organisation. He went on to say that the BBC is the most corrupt corporation in the world and its propaganda and the agenda of the Congress go together. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, "Why is the Centre running away from our JPC probe on Adani? If there is nothing to hide why're they reluctant? They have expunged the questions we raised in both Houses. We are being threatened to stay silent."

One of India's top journalistic bodies, Editor Guild of India said that it is deeply concerned about Income Tax surveys at offices of BBC India. The agency has called the searches as continuation of trend of using government agencies to intimidate and harass media outlets critical of ruling establishment. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra took to Twitter and wrote, "Reports of Income Tax raid at BBC's Delhi office. Wow, really? How unexpected. Meanwhile farsaan seva for Adani when he drops in for a chat with Chairman of SEBI office." 

Congress Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi wrote, "At the time India holds the Presidency of the G-20 nations, PM Modi continues to brazenly show India’s slide into authoritarianism and dictatorship. Raids on BBC, clean chit to Adani, tax cuts for rich, people’s homes being bull dozed, inequality and unemployment on the rise." Samajwadi party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav called raids at BBC offices 'a declaration of ideological emergency'. 

It is pertinent to note that the IT department's survey, which the activists say as a clampdown, has come weeks after the BBC released its two-episode documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which it has said that Modi is enourmoulsy popular and hugely divisive. The documentaries titled 'India: The Modi Question' had delved into the 2002 Gujarat riots that happened when Modi was Gujarat's Chief Minister and revealing the inquiry done by the UK Foreign Office, and accused Modi of directly responsible for the riots, that killed over thousands of people, majority of them were Muslim. 

As the documentary had sparked turmoil across the country, the BJP regime invoked its emergency power to roll out an arbitrary clampdown against the BBC documentary. The supporters of Modi and BJP had slammed BBC and now, the BJP government has conducted raids at the BBC's Delhi and Mumbai offices. Soon after the documentary was release, the Union government issued directions to YouTube and Twitter to block videos and posts sharing the link to the documentary. On the other side of the aisle, several political parties and their outfits have screened the documentary across the country. 

 

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