Intimidation is the intent

The ‘survey’ by the Income Tax (I-T) Department at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai are no rightful examinations of financial wrongs or misconduct but malicious harassment of a media organisation in the crosshairs of the government. Ever since the BBC had telecast a two-part documentary, India: The Modi Question, which showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi in poor light, the government, the BJP, and their ecosystem have been criticising and demonising the media organisation. The timing of the telecast and the intention of the BBC have been questioned, the contents of the documentary have been dubbed untrue, and a campaign was launched against it. The documentary was blocked in the first place in an act of censorship which does not befit a democratic society where freedom of speech and expression has been constitutionally guaranteed. The citizen’s right to know is a vital part of that freedom and it was denied by the blocking of the documentary.

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With the I-T survey, the government has gone one more step ahead and come down with a heavy hand on the international broadcaster. Not satisfied with blocking the message, it has sought to punish the messenger. Government officials have claimed that the BBC has violated transfer pricing rules and has “diverted significant” profits. The BBC has denied any wrongdoing and said that it was “fully co-operating” with the authorities. There is no doubt that the BBC has to answer all questions of the tax authorities and is liable for any financial irregularities committed by it. But there are telling circumstances which suggest that the survey is motivated by vindictiveness. The reasons given by the officials for the survey are not credible at all. The term survey is a play with the word; what was done was a raid and it has a message for the media.

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The timing of the action, which came soon after the telecast of the documentary, makes the government’s intentions clear. The question why journalists are subjected to action if the irregularities are on the business side has not been answered. A number of other organisations whose work the government has not liked have been subjected to such punitive action in the past. Media organisations and individuals have also been harassed. But it is the first time a global organisation of the BBC’s reach and standing has been targeted. It will further reconfirm the growing sense in the world that freedom of expression is shrinking in India, and media freedom, which is at the heart of democracy, is in danger. The action is intended to intimidate the media. It cannot do the government any good but can only be counterproductive.