In what is widely seen as a retaliation by the BJP government for a documentary that is critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted a "survey operation" at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) offices in the national capital and Mumbai, as part of a tax evasion investigation.
While the ruling BJP accused the BBC of "venomous reporting" and Home Minister Amit Shah saying that the broadcaster was after Modi since 2002, the action immediately attracted condemnation from the Opposition, calling it a "brazen and unapologetic vengeance" by a government scared of criticism.
Editors Guild and Press Club of India came out in support of the TV channel while describing it as one that "undermines" Constitutional democracy and a "clear case of vendetta" while the BBC said it was "fully cooperating" with the Income Tax Department and "hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible".
IT Department officials claimed the survey operations were related to international taxation and transfer pricing of BBC subsidiary companies. They claimed BBC was served notices in the past but was "defiant and non-complaint" and had "significantly diverted its profits".
The tax investigators were looking at documents at the Delhi and Mumbai offices of the London-headquartered broadcaster. Journalists and other staffers were asked to keep their phones at a particular spot to enable the investigations.
Officials said that survey operations did not mean that it was a search or raid. The survey only covers the business premises of a company and does not raid residences and other locations of its promoters or directors.
Sources said around two dozen tax department officials were part of the team that conducted searches at the BBC office in Delhi while in Mumbai, BBC studios were searched. Documents and laptops were learnt to have been seized by the tax officials.
The BBC was facing the ire of the BJP government and the Sangh Parivar over its two-part documentary series 'India: The Modi Question', which was critical of Modi's handling of Gujarat riots in 2002 when he was the Chief Minister of the state. The government had invoked emergency powers under the Information Technology Rules, 2021 to block YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links of the documentary.
The I-T Department's action also came a day after the first leg of the Budget Session of Parliament concluded, which was read as an attempt by the government to ensure that the Opposition does not get an immediate chance to raise the issue.
The Supreme Court had earlier this month refused to ban the documentary, describing the petition as "entirely misconceived".premises and not raid residences or other locations of promoters and other functionaries. Several Opposition parties came to the support of BBC though it faced stringent criticism from the BJP.
Congress targeted the government with its General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh saying, "Vinash Kale, Vipreet Buddhi" (When doom approaches, a person's intellect works against his interest)."
"Here we are demanding JPC on the Adani issue but the government is after the BBC, "Ramesh said while Congress tweeted from its official handle, "first came the BBC interview and it was banned. Now Income Tax raids at BBC offices. Undeclared emergency."
The action immediately attracted condemnation from the Opposition, calling it an "undeclared emergency" and that the Modi government was "scared" of criticism.
The BBC said it was "fully cooperating" with the Income Tax Department and "hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible".
Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said the action against the BBC showed that the Modi government is scared of criticism. "We condemn these intimidation tactics in the harshest terms. This undemocratic and dictatorial attitude cannot go on any longer," he said.
Trinamool Congress MP Mohua Moitra tweeted, "wow, really? How unexpected."
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav called the action against BBC as the beginning of "ideological emergency". "When a government stands for fear and oppression instead of fearlessness, then one should realise the end is near,” he tweeted.