“Documents and phones of several journalists were taken and the offices sealed.”
The BBC aired a documentary on Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, and weeks later tax officials sealed its Delhi and Mumbai offices. The BJP spokesman’s defence: “Why are you scared if you are adhering to the law?” Oxfam and several thinktanks got the same tax treatment, and Amnesty had to shut its India operations in 2020. India now ranks 150 of 180 on press freedom, and a tax audit that seizes reporters’ phones is not about tax.