- Weeks after the government slammed a BBC documentary Indian tax agents raided the BBC’s offices.
- The documentary focuses on the Hindu nationalist politician’s leadership as chief minister.
- Television news reporters were stationed outside the office.
Indian tax agents raided the BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday, weeks after the government slammed a BBC documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 riots.
The documentary focuses on the Hindu nationalist politician’s leadership as chief minister of the western state of Gujarat during the horrific sectarian riots, which killed at least 1,000 people, the majority of whom were Muslims, but activists claimed the death toll at more than twice that figure.
“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,” the BBC said in a statement.
The tax agency did not respond to requests for comment by email, text, or phone.
According to one of two individuals in the BBC’s New Delhi office, tax officials were conversing with the accounts officer and no one was permitted to leave.
During the hunt, television news reporters were stationed outside the office at Connaught Place in downtown Delhi to report on events.
The Editors Guild of India, a non-partisan group of editorial leaders, expressed grave concern about the tax officers’ visits.
“It is distressed by the continuing trend of government agencies being used to intimidate and harass news organizations that are critical of the ruling establishment,” it said in a statement.
It said the department similarly searched the offices of the media outlets NewsClick, Newslaundry, Dainik Bhaskar, and Bharat Samachar in 2021 following their “critical coverage of the government establishment”.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Indian institutions worked independently and the tax department was “within the law in looking into tax compliance”.
“India is a vibrant democracy where no one is above the law,” said BJP spokesman Gopal Krishna Agarwal.
The tax department’s move was denounced by the main opposition Congress party.
“The IT raid at BBC’s office reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism,” lawmaker and Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal wrote on Twitter.
“We condemn these intimidation tactics in the harshest terms. This undemocratic and dictatorial attitude cannot go on any longer.”
The BBC program has been labeled as propaganda by the authorities. The foreign ministry in January said it was meant to advance a “discredited narrative”, was biased, lacked objectivity, and reflected a “continuing colonial mindset”.
The BBC has stood by its documentary reporting.
Last month, police detained students gathered in Delhi to watch the documentary after their institution refused permission for a showing.
Modi ruled Gujarat for over a decade before taking office as Prime Minister in 2014.
Accusations that he did not do enough to quell the violence in 2002 have followed him throughout his career. Modi has consistently denied any misconduct. In 2013, a Supreme Court-appointed panel ruled that there was insufficient evidence to charge him.
In February 2002, a suspected Muslim mob set fire to a train transporting Hindu pilgrims in Gujarat, sparking one of independent India’s worst outbreaks of sectarian violence.
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