hard not to see Income Tax (IT) Department conducts two-day survey of BBC offices Britain’s well-known public broadcaster and media institutions in New Delhi and Mumbai as part of an effort to create a chilling effect on those who are willing to hold the current regime accountable for past actions. Survey officials said they were probing allegations related to “transfer pricing” and “diversion of profits”. However, the fact that the release of the action came in the wake of two-part documentary, India: The Modi Question, raises important questions. Journalists were also essentially subjected to an accounting/financial survey, which can only be understood as an act of intimidation of media personnel. In addition, it also follows the actions of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which recently issued overzealous Orders online media platforms to deactivate links In the first part of the documentary, by invoking emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021 and Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000, and later by blocking tweets related to it. Reactions from BJP spokesmen – one calling the BBC a “corrupt” corporation – only add to the perception that this is an attempt to delegitimise the work done by important media outlets. The BBC survey is no exception if similar exercises are considered in the past: Digital news organization at Newslaundry In 2021, the CBI raid on NDTV in 2017, and the Enforcement Directorate Discovery of Digital Portal Newsclick and Dainik Bhaskar Group’s IT Khoj, both in 2021. Last year, the digital media-funding Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation and the think tank, Center for Policy Research, did such a “survey”, The unmistakable and common link is that media organizations have published material critical of the central government.
India’s claim as a developing nation and growing economy in a globalized world is that it is a flourishing democracy with constitutionally guaranteed institutional freedoms and separation of powers as opposed to authoritarian regimes that promote economic prosperity But don’t play by institutional rules and values. At its core is the idea of freedom of the press to hold those in power accountable. Even if media organizations raise uncomfortable questions, the response should be factual, reasonable and measured. Whatever the reaction to the BBC documentary has been, it is not. In trying to block access to the documentary, the government came across as bigoted and now, with this survey in BBC offices, it comes across as intimidating. This does not bode well for India’s global image, but worse, it is a clear threat to the existing freedoms of the country’s citizens.