By: Shubham Ghosh
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday (15) said media is the fourth pillar of democracy and suppressing its voice is akin to suppressing the voice of the public.
His comments came a day after the income-tax (I-T) department carried out a survey operation at British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) offices in Delhi and Mumbai.
The operation was conducted as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion, according to officials. The opposition slammed India’s ruling Bhataiya Janata Party (BJP) of targeting the British broadcaster days after it aired a documentary on prime minister Narendra Modi and the riots in Gujarat in 2002 when he was the state’s chief minister.
मीडिया लोकतंत्र का चौथा स्तम्भ है, मीडिया की स्वतंत्रता पर हमला जनता की आवाज़ दबाने के बराबर है। जो भी भाजपा के ख़िलाफ़ बोलता है उसके पीछे ये लोग IT, CBI और ED को छोड़ देते हैं।
क्या भाजपा देश की लोकतांत्रिक व्यवस्था और संस्थाओं को कुचलकर पूरे देश को अपना गुलाम बनाना चाहती है?
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 15, 2023
“Media is the fourth pillar of democracy and an attack on its freedom is similar to suppressing the voice of public. Whosoever speaks against the BJP, these people deploy CBI, ED and I-T behind him,” Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.
“Does the BJP want to crush the country’s democratic system and institutions and turn the entire country into its slave?” he said.
The action, which sparked a sharp political debate with the ruling BJP accusing the BBC of “venomous reporting” and the opposition questioning the timing of the move, comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ on Modi and the Gujarat riots.
Meanwhile, the I-T department survey operation against the BBC India continued for the second day on Wednesday with the sleuths understood to be making copies of electronic and paper-based financial data of the organisation, officials said.
(PTI)