It has been two days since an Income Tax 'survey' began at the Delhi and Mumbai offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that aired the documentary 'India: The Modi Question', which accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of involvement in the Gujarat riots of 2002. The indications are that the survey will continue on Thursday as well. It is not the first time that central agencies like the CBI, Income Tax, and Enforcement Department have raided media houses in India for publishing stories unfavourable to the central government, the BJP, and the Sangh Parivar. But when it comes to a foreign institution that was once described as the epitome of credibility by then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, it has bigger dimensions, sufficient toc reate extensive criticism at the international level too.
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This action against an international media entity comes at a time when the central government and its supporters are claiming that India is on top of the world after getting the G20 chairmanship. The BBC is not a sacred cow. Looking at its history of over 100 years, anyone can see that the BBC was among the global media monopolies that at times backed racism and imperialism. In this respect, o major changes are to be expected in the future as well. That is not the point here. The survey and probe are retaliation for openly saying that the king is naked. This act exposes to the world how endangered independent journalism is in democratic India. The central government and the BJP took action one after another against the controversial BBC documentary, but they couldn't keep it entirely out of public viewing. Finally, the matter reached the Supreme Court. The top court dismissed the petition for its ban by asking how a documentary would affect the country. Soon after that, an Income Tax team reached the Delhi and Mumbai offices of the BBC.
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The action against the BBC is seen as a continuation of the media repression that intensified in the country after the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014. The new probe reveals that if the government had run after the local and national media until now, that has extended to the international level at this point. Apart from whether the BBC can be controlled, this investigation is also a warning to the national and international media. This is not the first time the government has taken action against the publications that broadcasted news unpalatable to the Prime Minister and the BJP. After the Rafale scandals came out, an attempt was made to suffocate The Hindu by denying government advertisements. And it saw the desired result. It was the ED and the police that confronted media organisations like 'The Wire' and 'News Click' which criticised the government's actions to help the monopolies. 'Alt News' founder Mohammad Zubair was jailed on trumped-up charges for exposing fake news and hate propaganda. Journalist Siddique Kapan, who was on his way to report the murder of a Dalit girl in Hathras, got bail only after spending more than two years in jail.
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The central government banned Malayalam news channels Asianet and MediaOne for reporting on the Delhi riots. The battle against the attempt to shut down MediaOne without renewing its licence is in the Supreme Court. The Income Tax Department raided the offices of the newspaper 'Dainik Bhaskar' for writing about negligence in handling the Covid deaths. In the midst of all this, NDTV, which marched ahead unfazed by inspections and threats, was reined in by a crony business tycoon capturing its very ownership. Evidence abounds of how far India has gone backwards in freedom of the press in recent years. India is ranked 150 out of 180 countries in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index. No more examples are needed to substantiate how India went from 122 in 2010 to 150 in 2022. In any country where the Opposition is weak, the media has to take on the duties of the Opposition. It is absurd to think that the media can be brought to its knees and flaws of the system can be hidden with pressure, threats, and oppression. However, the reality is that a government gearing up to ruin everything does not understand any of this. And that is the misfortune of the country.