BBC should make sure to caught with rules, regulations: British MP on I-T surveys

British MP Bob Blackman says that the BBC incident will not have any impact on India-UK relationship.

Amid the opposition parties creating uproar in India over the Income Tax Department's surveys on British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in its Mumbai and Delhi offices, British MP Bob Blackman has responded to the issue by claiming that the media house has to ensure "they are caught with the rules and regulations".

"Obviously, this is a survey where the income tax authorities have looked to gather the evidence to establish if the BBC is doing anything wrong, I would say quite openly, this is the BBC's job and operating within India, is to make sure they are caught with the rules and regulations, and I am sure it will be cleared up very quickly, but you know that's upto the tax authorities so... (for) BBC to make sure they are caught up with the rules that operate here," ANI quoted him as saying in an exclusive interview.

Talking about some sections criticising the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government over the I-T surveys as an attack on the media, he said that it was not an accurate assessment. "It's a review, it is a survey....the moment there haven't been suggestions of charges or anything like that...let the authorities operate, let the BBC act as they have done in an open and transparent way, providing access to all the records and all the information and let the tax authorities come to their conclusion. I trust that we clear up very quickly because it is for the benefit of the tax authorities and for the BBC."

He has stated the news organisation is not an arm of the British government and the UK government regards India as a strong friend and a strong ally.

"Let's be very clear, the BBC is not an arm of the British government. In fact, the BBC is frequently critical of the British government and, actually to be fair, critical of all the British government that has been that's their job, their job is to ask questions, to look for evidence. But the key here is you can ask questions but when there is evidence to the contrary and it's quite clearly not the case, then you shouldn't be casting aspersions. I think that is the difference here, which I think it is extremely regrettable because it would seem as if there was some sort of agenda of the BBC to disrupt UK-India relations," he told the Indian news agency.

He also clarified that BBC policies are independent and not the policy of the UK government. "The British government regards India as a strong friend and a strong ally. We signed an agreement a year ago, now an agreement on security, defence and other matters and that demonstrates the goodwill between our countries. We are two countries with a shared past and tremendous future ahead of us and we are at the moment negotiating what could be an incredible free trade deal which would benefit India and the United Kingdom. So, anything that disrupts that is extremely regrettable, particularly when it's with our foundation," Blackman added.

Weeks after the BBC released a controversial series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Income Tax departments conducted surveys on the media house's offices in Mumbai and Delhi.

The Income Tax department's marathon "surveys" at BBC's offices ended on Thursday, after clocking over 58 hours in total, as officials prepared an inventory of financial data from select staffers and collected digital and paper data. The operation that began at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) offices in Delhi and Mumbai around 11:30 am on Tuesday has ended in Mumbai and will be wound up at Delhi by tonight, sources said late on Thursday. Tax authorities have made an inventory of the available stock, recorded the statement of some staffers and have impounded some documents as part of the survey action that continued for three days clocking about 57-58 hours, officials told PTI.

The survey was carried out to investigate issues related to international taxation and transfer pricing of BBC subsidiary companies, they had said.

Opposition parties have denounced the I-T department action against the London-headquartered public broadcaster, terming it "political vendetta".

However, the British MP expressed hope that the documentary episode will not impact relations between India and UK.