West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday called the Income Tax survey in the BBC offices of Mumbai and Delhi “very unfortunate”, and accused the ruling BJP government of “political vendetta”.
“Income Tax survey on BBC very unfortunate; it is political vendetta of BJP government,” she said, as quoted by PTI. “The I-T survey on BBC is affecting freedom of the press; one day there will be no media in India,” the West Bengal CM added.
The comments came a day after the I-T department carried out a survey operation at British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) offices as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion. The survey operation against BBC India continued for the second day on Wednesday.
The action by the central probe agency comes weeks after the British broadcaster released a two-part documentary titled “India: The Modi Question” which focuses on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his alleged role in 2002 Gujarat riots.
Does BJP want to crush the country’s democratic system: Kejriwal
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday accused the BJP of crushing the nation’s “democratic system”.
“Media is the fourth pillar of democracy and an attack on its freedom is similar to suppressing the voice of public. Whosoever speaks against the BJP, these people deploy CBI, ED and I-T behind him. Does the BJP want to crush the country’s democratic system and institutions and turn the entire country into its slave?” Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said that the survey operations are “nothing new”, and journalists in Jammu and Kashmir have been jailed, she said, citing the examples of incarceration of journalists Fahad Shah and Sajad Gul.
“There is nothing new. Especially in Jammu and Kashmir, we have been seeing for the past three years how journalists are treated. Fahad Shah and Sajad Gul have been jailed. Unfortunately, the national and international community stayed silent when it was happening here and now it is happening there as well,” she said.
“Today BBC, which is considered very credible around the world, has been raided after the documentary on Gujarat riots was released. This has damaged the image of India at international level, they are defaming the country. It also exposes the BJP’s Vishwaguru claims. We are known as the mother of all democracies but this does not augur well,” she added.
(With PTI Inputs)