Opposition speaks in one voice to condemn the I-T raids on BBC India

As soon as news broke of the Income Tax Department's raid at the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) offices in Delhi and Mumbai, the opposition was quick to react to it. The Indian National Congress' official Twitter handle termed the survey action as an "undeclared emergency" in Hindi.

The raid follows days after the release of the documentary by the UK broadcaster on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his reported role in 2002 Gujarat riots.

The Congress general secretary KC Venugopal tweeted that the raid at BBC’s offices reeked of desperation and showed that the Modi government was scared of criticism. He wrote that the party condemned the intimidation tactics in the harshest terms. “This undemocratic and dictatorial attitude cannot go on any longer,” he wrote.

The Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh responded to the raids stating that the Opposition parties were demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into allegations against Adani and “the government is running after the BBC".

"Vinash Kale Viprit Buddhi (When disaster is at hand, your faculties let you down)," he added.

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra reacted by saying that while BBC is raided, "farsaan seva for Adani" will be organised "when he drops in for a chat with SEBI's Chairman office." 

Last week, Moitra made headlines from launching a scathing attack against the Centre and its silence on the Adani saga in the parliament. Referring to Adani as "Mr. A", Moitra also tweeted: Since agencies doing these Valentine Day “Surveys” how about @IncomeTaxIndia, @SEBI_India, & @dir_ed onduct one on govt’s most valued sweetheart  Mr. A?"

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo member MA Baby underscored that the BBC offices have been raided in the backdrop of the BBC’s documentary on the “2002 genocide when the current PM was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. This can only be termed as the retaliatory action against the documentary”. 

Such raids are not new as several news offices such as NDTV and NewsClick have been raided before, he added.

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav slammed the IT raids at the BBC India offices. He termed the raid a declaration of 'ideological emergency'. 

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti wrote on Twitter, "Cause and effect of raids on the BBC office is quite obvious. GoI is brazenly hounding those who speak the truth. Be it opposition leaders, media, activists, or anyone else for that matter. The gloves are off and there is a price one pays for fighting for the truth."

The two-episode documentary titled India: The Modi Question was released just a year before India goes to polls to possibly elect Modi for a third term. The documentary reported that Modi was "directly responsible" for the "climate of impunity" that enabled the violence.

Soon after the first episode was released, the Indian government issued blocking orders to Youtube and Twitter, however it wasn't effective as netizens found ways to work around the ban. It showcased the futility of trying to ban online content and drew more attention to the documentary.