Inquiry comes after tax raid on corporation’s offices and a documentary that was critical of PM Narendra Modi
India’s financial crimes agency is investigating the BBC over alleged violations of foreign exchange rules, less than two months after the corporation’s Indian headquarters were raided by tax inspectors.
According to officials, the latest investigation is being conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a central government agency.
Continue reading...References to Muslim rulers, deadly riots connected to PM and Gandhi’s dislike of Hindu nationalism removed
The Indian government has been accused of rewriting history to fit its Hindu nationalist agenda after school textbooks were edited to remove references to Mahatma Gandhi’s opposition to Hindu nationalism, as well as mention of a controversial religious riot in which the prime minister, Narendra Modi, was implicated.
Textbooks were also revised to remove chapters on the history of the Mughals, the Muslim rulers who controlled much of India between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Continue reading...Canadian politician, poet, an India MP and journalists are among 120 accounts that have been withheld
Twitter has been accused of bowing to government pressure in India by blocking scores of prominent journalists, politicians and activists from its platform in recent weeks.
The Indian government issued notices to Twitter to remove people in the aftermath of an internet shutdown in Punjab during the search for a fugitive Sikh separatist leader.
Continue reading...Top opposition figure expelled from parliament after being convicted of defamation over Modi remark
The top Indian opposition figure Rahul Gandhi has said he will keep fighting for democracy after blaming his expulsion from parliament on his demands for an investigation into a key business ally of the prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Gandhi was stripped of his parliamentary seat on Friday, a day after he was convicted of defamation in Modi’s home state of Gujarat for a 2019 campaign-trail remark seen as an insult to the prime minister.
Continue reading...Indian opposition leader accused of implying prime minister was a criminal in remark made in 2019
A court in India has found the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi guilty of defamation for a remark implying the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, was a criminal.
On Thursday, Gandhi, 52, was sentenced to two years in prison but was granted bail after his lawyers announced their intention to appeal.
Continue reading...Exclusive: papers kept classified for decades reveal India’s first PM acted on advice from most senior general
India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was urged by his most senior general to agree to a ceasefire with Pakistan in 1948, the Guardian can reveal after viewing letters on Kashmir that have been kept classified in India for decades.
The correspondence from the then commander-in-chief, Gen Sir Francis Robert Roy Bucher, will have significant political ramifications for the current nationalist government in Delhi, which has discredited Nehru’s decision to come to a compromise on the status of disputed Kashmir as an ill-informed “blunder”.
Continue reading...Stormy meeting in Delhi breaks up without joint statement as west and Moscow spar over Ukraine
Russia has accused the west of blackmail and threats and claimed it had China’s support for its position at a stormy meeting of G20 foreign ministers in India, dominated by the war in Ukraine.
The event broke up with no joint communique, only a summary of the meeting prepared by the host, India, the group’s current chair.
Continue reading...Ministers say they have raised New Delhi and Mumbai raids with their Indian counterparts
Labour has condemned raids by Indian tax authorities on BBC offices in Mumbai and New Delhi as “deeply worrying”, as ministers say they have raised the issue with their Indian counterparts.
In the first significant intervention by a main British party since last week’s raids, the shadow foreign minister Fabian Hamilton criticised the Indian authorities and expressed concern that BBC staff had been held overnight for questioning.
Continue reading...Country’s finance ministry claims broadcaster has not fully declared its income and profits
India’s finance ministry has accused the BBC of tax evasion, saying that it had not fully declared its income and profits from its operations in the country.
Indian tax authorities ended three days of searches of the British broadcaster’s Delhi and Mumbai offices on Thursday night. Opposition political parties and other media organisations have criticised the searches as an attempt to intimidate the media.
Continue reading...Searches come weeks after release of documentary critical of PM that was later blocked by government
BBC offices in India have been raided by tax department officials, just weeks after the release of a documentary critical of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, which was later blocked by the government.
According to those working at the broadcaster, more than a dozen officials from the country’s income tax department turned up at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai, where hundreds of employees are based, to conduct a “survey”. Documents and phones of several journalists were taken and the offices sealed.
Continue reading...Route linking two cities is part of concerted infrastructure push to catch up with geopolitical rival China
India has inaugurated the first stage of its longest expressway, a route linking Delhi and Mumbai, as it makes a concerted infrastructure push to catch up with its geopolitical rival China.
The $13bn (£10.8bn) project will eventually cut the road travel time between the country’s two biggest cities in half, to 12 hours.
Continue reading...Campaign seeks to boost traditional Indian values and offset ‘dazzle of western civilisation’
The Indian government has urged people to set aside the “western” traditions of Valentine’s Day and instead celebrate the occasion by cuddling up with the country’s sacred cows.
In a new appeal, 14 February has been declared Cow Hug Day, when people are encouraged to take the animals into an embrace. Cows are holy within Hinduism, the majority religion in India, and are considered sacred animals across the country.
Continue reading...Opposition groups push Modi to investigate allegations by US short-seller as firm suffers market rout
The crisis engulfing the Adani Group has intensified as hundreds of members of India’s opposition parties took to the streets to press for an investigation into allegations by a US short-seller against India’s second-biggest business group which triggered its market rout.
The Adani Group said on Monday that its major investors, known in India as “promoters”, had pledged to prepay $1.1bn (£916m) in share-backed loans due for repayment by September 2024. The repayments include shares in Adani’s ports business, Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Rami Ranger criticised over comments about Pakistani journalists
A Conservative peer has apologised and withdrawn comments that were criticised for being “racially charged”, as a second referral about his conduct was made to the House of Lords standards watchdog.
Rami Ranger, a major Conservative party donor, admitted that remarks unearthed by the Guardian that he made in a letter regarding Pakistani journalists and a later TV interview about grooming and drug dealing had “caused offence”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Rami Ranger faces criticism over ‘deplorable’ comments about Pakistani journalists at the corporation
A Conservative peer has been accused of using “deplorable” and “racially charged language” in a scathing attack on the BBC’s recent documentary about the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Rami Ranger, who is already under investigation by the standards commissioners in the Lords, was criticised for comments made about Pakistani journalists at the corporation.
Continue reading...Government accused of ‘censorship’ over ban on film about PM’s role in violence during 2002 Gujarat riots
The Indian government has invoked emergency laws to block a BBC documentary examining the role of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, during riots in the western state of Gujarat in 2002.
Controversy has erupted in India over the first episode of the two-part programme, India: The Modi Question, which tracked his rise through the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata party and his appointment as chief minister of Gujarat.
Continue reading...Bharatiya Janata party claims biggest electoral success on record in prime minister’s home state
The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, was given a significant boost as his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) won a landslide victory in his home state of Gujarat, a sign of the party’s enduring popularity before a general election due in 2024.
Gujarat has long been a stronghold of the Hindu nationalist BJP, which has won seven consecutive elections there since 1995, but Thursday’s results were the BJP’s biggest electoral success in the state on record. It looks on course to win a record 156 seats out of 182, giving it an 80% majority, the highest achieved by any party in the state’s history.
Continue reading...Gautam Adani’s takeover of NDTV is ‘serious threat to democracy’ in India, says news anchor
One of India’s few remaining news channels known for independent reporting is about to be taken over by a billionaire ally of the prime minister, Narendra Modi.
In recent years, NDTV (New Delhi Television) has earned a reputation as one of the last bastions of independent journalism among India’s mainstream media, which have increasingly been put under pressure to toe the government line under Modi, who came to power in 2014.
Continue reading...Prime minister says UK should not sacrifice quality for speed as he seeks to improve terms at G20 talks
Rishi Sunak has hinted he will slow down progress on the India trade deal to improve its terms, saying the UK should not “sacrifice quality for speed”.
The comments, which preceded talks with the UK prime minister’s Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, at the G20 on Wednesday, suggested a marked change of approach from Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, who prioritised speed and hard deadlines, having pledged a “deal for Diwali” that did not materialise.
Continue reading...Officials say they did not issue a certificate to the company in charge of Morbi bridge that it was fit for public use after repairs
Indian police have arrested nine people, including ticketing clerks and contractors, as part of their investigation into the collapse of a footbridge in which at least 134 people, including many children, were killed.
CCTV footage from just before the collapse showed a group of young men taking photos while others tried to rock the suspension bridge in Morbi from side to side, before they tumbled into the river below as the cables gave way.
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