NEW DELHI: British Foreign Secretary James deftly raised tax searches on the BBC with Foreign Minister Jaishankar during a bilateral meeting today. Mr Jaishankar said he was “firm” with his UK counterpart that all companies operating in India must comply with the law of the land.
According to sources, the UK Foreign Secretary was told that “all companies operating in India must fully comply with relevant laws and regulations”.

Last month, Income Tax officials raided the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai for three days, alleging tax irregularities. During the survey, senior staff had to stay overnight to answer questions.

The searches come weeks after the British public service broadcaster aired a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership in Gujarat during the 2002 communal riots.

The tax department said that after completing the survey, it found “numerous evidences (sic)” indicating that “tax was not paid on certain remittances not disclosed as income in India by the group’s foreign entities”.

The tax department alleged that the survey threw up contradictions and inconsistencies in the transfer pricing documents.

A few days later, the British government strongly defended the BBC and its editorial independence.

“We stand for the BBC. We fund the BBC. We think the BBC World Service is vital. We want the BBC to have that editorial independence,” said David Rutley, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

“It criticizes us (the government), it criticizes the (opposition) Labor Party, and we believe that freedom is very important. That freedom is important, and we want to convey its importance to our friends around the world, including the government in India,” he said. .

The tax probes were widely criticized by the opposition, which accused the government of vendetta against the BBC.

The BBC’s two-part series titled “India: The Modi Question” examines allegations that Prime Minister Modi did not do enough to stop the 2002 riots — allegations rejected by the Supreme Court.

External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, in an interview last week, said the timing of the BBC documentary was “not coincidental” and condemned the stories in foreign media.

“There’s a phrase – war by other means. Think about it – it’s politics by other means. Why all of a sudden reports, attention and views arise? Some of these things will never happen again?” Dr. Jaishankar answered the question.

“I mean, do you doubt it? Look at who the cheerleaders are. What’s happening, as I said — this trickle, trickle, trickle — how you shape a very extremist image of India, the government, the BJP, the prime minister, I mean, it’s been going on for a decade,” said Dr. Jaishankar said.

The motive behind such stories abroad is to further the anti-India agenda, he challenged those behind the story to come to the political arena.