The so called ‘survey’ by the Income Tax department at BBC’s Delhi and Mumbai offices is nothing but an act of intimidation through the misuse of government agencies. What I find most worrying is that the Narendra Modi government no longer cares about the optics of such an action. I don’t think anyone believes the official line of this being a mere survey. Its nothing but petty politics and an attempt to muzzle an international news channel, when all the Indian channels have been browbeaten into submission. What I find particularly ironic is that many of the BJP politicians talk about the excesses of the Emergency imposed by Mrs Indira Gandhi – while behaving exactly like the government of those dark days.
The news that the Income Tax Department has sealed off the offices in Delhi and Mumbai has created a stir throughout the country. I switched on the TV and heard a comment from a member of the BJP saying, “If the BBC is innocent then why the fear?” I am not a BBC spokesperson, just an ex-employee. Setting the obvious political vendetta probably as a result of the documentary on Gujarat aside, it’s a ludicrous attack on BBC. The outlet is funded by the licence fee paid by the citizens of UK – it’s not a commercial entity per se and it’s the national broadcaster of the UK. I am surprised that the government chose to retaliate through the I-T department. Also why is the government hell bent on attracting more attention to the documentary they have tried so hard to suppress?
It’s definitely not a good look in the year when the NDA government has gone to town crowing about India’s presidency of G20. I wonder what kind of a tone it will set when Rishi Sunak and PM Modi meet the G20 Summit? With India’s reputation as one of the few successful democracies in South Asia under a serious threat, I am not sure what worries me more: that this government doesn’t care how this attack on the BBC will be perceived, or that there is no one left in electronic media in India to really express their outrage.
The Emergency was imposed less than 50 years ago, and a lot of senior members of the BJP – including the prime minister – created their political careers on the back of being persecuted by the government of the day. But those lessons of the past have no meaning for them now that the shoe is on the other foot. I am an eternal optimist, and I still feel that the electorate of India will not allow the government to become a dictatorship. But days like this make it very hard to be optimistic.
Satish Jacob was deputy chief of bureau, BBC Delhi.