BJP's Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India Mahesh Jethmalani on Tuesday accused the British Broadcasting Corporation of being anti-India as it "desperately needed money". Sharing an article by weekly British magazine The Spectator, he took a dig at the BBC, saying that the broadcaster was "up for sale".
"Why is #BBC so anti-India? Because it needs money desperately enough to take it from Chinese state linked Huawei (see link) & pursue the latter’s agenda (BBC a fellow traveller, Comrade Jairam?)It’s a simple cash-for-propaganda deal. BBC is up for sale," he tweeted.
Jethmalani's tweet has come at a time when a two-part BBC documentary has created a huge political storm in India. On January 21, the Centre issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary "India: The Modi Question", the report said quoting its sources.
The BBC documentary, "India: The Modi Question," triggered controversy after the government denounced it as a "propaganda piece" designed to push a discredited narrative. The government has also taken steps to remove the documentary from various social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube.
The Opposition has alleged that the government is restricting freedom of speech under the garb of the claim that it is a "propaganda piece".
The article shared by Jethmalani on Wednesday was written by gossip columnist Steerpike. It says that the BBC is facing criticism for partnering with Huawei, the Chinese tech company sanctioned by the US in 2019 and banned from the UK’s 5G network in 2020, to fund its overseas journalism.
The author seemed to base his opinion on advertisements paid and presented by Huawei on BBC.com, which boast about "closing the digital divide" to "promote Huawei's tech initiatives".
The content was created by the BBC’s StoryWorks team and is only available to overseas readers, not UK visitors. The article goes on to say, that critics, including the Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China, have called for the BBC to return the money and apologize to the Uyghur community.
Steerpike was referring to BBC's articles on Chinese atrocities on Uyghur Muslims. A programme titled 'How to Brainwash a Million People' on BBC Panorama, which is about "the reality of surveillance and abuse inside hundreds of Chinese detention centres", is no longer available." However, an article on the same can be read on BBC News.
"The BBC declined to comment on how much money it has made from the partnership with Huawei," the 'The Spectator' article said.