BBC cannot hide 'economic offences' under garb of freedom of expression: BJP

The BJP said on Wednesday (February 22) the BBC or any other organisation cannot hide their “economic offences” under the garb of freedom of expression.

The British broadcaster is under the Income-Tax department probe for alleged tax avoidance by underreporting income and these are serious offences, BJP’s information technology department head Amit Malviya said.

Opinion: Raid on BBC is a nation-building exercise, can’t you see?

The BBC has to abide by Indian laws to operate in the country, he said.

The BJP’s reaction came following the British government’s strong defence of the BBC and its editorial freedom in Parliament after the Income Tax departments survey operations on the media corporations New Delhi and Mumbai offices last week.

The BBC has said it is fully cooperating with the investigation and hopes to have the situation resolved as soon as possible.

Also read: BBC India’s income and profits not commensurate with operations: Income Tax dept

Malviya claimed that the international broadcaster has a chequered past and accused it of trying to meddle in the internal affairs of democracies, including India.

He said that it once showed Russian tanks in Chechnya as Indian tanks in Kashmir to “suit its propaganda”.

Malviya said India is the “mother of democracy” and has a strong judicial system to ensure freedom of expression.

Also read: BBC may be govt’s target, but I-T ‘survey’ signals tough days for India’s democracy

The I-T department had said in a statement following the survey that the income and profits disclosed by the organisation’s units were “not commensurate with the scale of operations in India”.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) junior minister responded to an urgent question raised in the House of Commons in London on Tuesday to say that the government cannot comment on the allegations made by the I-T department over an ongoing investigation but stressed that media freedom and freedom of speech are essential elements of robust democracies.

(With agency inputs)