India First | Law applies equally and BBC is not an exception

Is it the BBC’s controversial documentary on Gujarat riots that led to the Government’s retaliation against the BBC? Or, Is the reverse true that the BBC made this documentary since it was aware that the law enforcing agencies were closing in on it? Amidst this controversy, it is quite surprising that the entire opposition and Lutyens’ media have gone berserk on the IT survey of BBC’s financial operations in India. Knowing the way the Modi Government functions, it was clear that things would be taken to the logical conclusions. It happened with the Greenpeace Organisation that was forced to shut operations in 2015 because it was violating the Indian law. It was charged with “engaging in financial fraud and falsifying data”. The mighty Amnesty International (AI), shut its house in India in 2020 when agencies questioned violations of Foreign Exchange Laws. AI had opened a business entity in India to circumvent the law and fund its operations in India. Both the Greenpeace and AI alleged that the government had indulged in reprisals, which was vehemently denied. A statement by the Home Ministry said: “India, by settled law, does not allow interference in domestic political debates by entities funded by foreign donations….This law applies equally to all and it shall apply to Amnesty International as well.” The law applies equally to the BBC as well. The BBC is reported to be circumventing the Indian law through manipulating Transfer Pricing and Tax Evasions. Transfer pricing is where company ‘A’ gives service to company ‘B’ at a market price but gives the same service to its subsidiary company at a much lower price thereby resulting in tax evasion. We will wait for the results of the tax survey to come out and clear cobwebs. However, the fact remains that the BBC has been served notices regularly by tax authorities to show compliance. The organisation has chosen to ignore such notices. Even during the time of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government the BBC was issued such notices. What happens if an individual or organisation refuses to reply to IT notices? Should the BBC be not asked why it did so and what was its motivation in thinking it is above the law? The Government authorities have been apprehensive of the model of business the organisation has adopted for its operations in India. Why should the Congress not see this blatant violation and instead try to question the government? Some prominent media personalities, who regale in calling themselves secular, have described this as an undeclared Emergency and a blatant attack on independence of press. Why are they not asking that any organisation operating in India should follow the law of the land irrespective of who you are? No extra immunity is available to any organisation or individual just because they are media people or organisations. If their logic is taken into consideration, anyone violating the Indian law would just need to open a media house or new organisation to evade the law. British parliamentarian Bob Blackman was right when he said that the BBC should face the law and if they had not done anything wrong they would come out clean. He distanced himself from the controversial BBC documentary saying it was a “shoddy” piece of journalism and a “hatchet job”. Those who say the media is arm twisted are the ones who are enjoying the best of time by hurling even personal abuses against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They cannot digest the fact that one sided narration has been counter-checked by the nationalist media that gives the other view point. Some media persons are still super awed by foreign organisations such as the BBC. They are forgetting that the BBC itself is trying to find ways to be relevant. The reasons for which it was set up no longer exist. Even in India, proliferation of the media has ensured that the organisation does not have the same reach it used to have earlier. During the days of the Raj and till the opening up of various satellite channels and the internet, the BBC may have provided the main narrative. But now, no longer. Social media has produced a strong counter. Indian Television channels are giving out news on a 24-hour basis and the concept of citizen journalism has gained momentum where people record events on mobile and relay news through various social media platforms. There is a surge of nationalist resurgence and facts cannot be distorted or used one way or the other. The Leftist narrative has got limited to a very few organisations. Modi is rising and India is rising, but this left Cabal is hell bent on taking this credit away from Modi. Their narrative now is- as India’s time has come anyway, one way left is to try to defame Modi. So, all organisations and platforms would be used by them as toolkits to attack the Indian Prime Minister. The writer is the convener of the media relations department of the BJP and represents the party as a spokesperson on TV debates. He has authored the book ‘Narendra Modi: The Game Changer’. The views expressed are personal. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .