India’s BBC raid is just the Modi government’s latest attack on the press

A go to to the BBC’s workplaces in New Delhi and Mumbai by revenue tax officers is drawing worldwide consideration to the precarious state of press freedoms in India. The federal government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described it euphemistically as a “survey,” which is an unsubtle strategy to characterize a tax raid.

There’s no subtlety to the timing, both: Almost three weeks in the past, the British broadcaster aired a documentary drawing consideration to Modi’s alleged position in lethal sectarian riots that wracked his residence state of Gujarat in 2002. Modi is notoriously thin-skinned on this entrance: His authorities banned the documentary and tried to dam clips on social media platforms in addition to screenings in universities.

Authorities spokespersons and leaders of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Celebration have been constructing a head of steam towards the BBC, accusing it of retaining a “colonial mindset.” (The broadcaster has defended the documentary as “rigorously researched in keeping with the best editorial requirements.” The documentary cites a British Overseas Workplace report, which raises questions on Modi’s actions throughout the riots, which claimed greater than 1,000 victims, largely Muslims.)