Opposition leaders pile on Modi

Opposition parties in India continued their attack on the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the income tax authorities "surveys" of the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.

In its latest tirade, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera pointed to the plummeting status of India's Press Freedom Index which has now dipped to 150th as of 2022, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

"India is the mother of democracy but why is India's Prime Minister father of hypocrisy. What will you get after sending IT-D to BBC office? Will his image get better? In the world's Press Freedom Index, India's situation is dire compared to our neighbouring countries. So, will what happened yesterday ever help the rankings?" Khera told reporters in New Delhi.

He alleged that the IT surveys were just a way to unleash the central agency because the PM's past was pulled up.

The BBC "does not have a profit-loss revenue model. All BBC subscribers submit licence fees to post offices in the United Kingdom, then the post office hands over the licence fees to the BBC and that's how the employees are paid and they do not depend on ads so how does India's income tax department come into the picture? ... He [Modi] made a mockery of the country. We are not a banana republic and we will never be," Khera said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed the Income Tax department's actions on BBC India's offices as "very unfortunate", and alleged that it is "political vendetta" of the BJP-led central government.

"It is very unfortunate; it is political vendetta of the BJP government," Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata. Such actions affect freedom of the press, she said, alleging that the saffron party is controlling the media.

"One day there will be no media in the country … They [BJP leaders] don't care about people's mandate, their only mandate is dictatorship. [They are] more than Hitler," she said.

People's Democratic Party President and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said the action against the BBC India was sending a wrong message internationally and damaging India's image as a democracy.