New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday came down heavily on the Centre over searches reportedly carried out by the Income Tax officials at the offices of British Broadcasting Corporation here and in Mumbai, and said the ruling dispensation is “scared” of criticism.
“Time and again, there has been an assault on freedom of Press under Modi Government. This is done with brazen and unapologetic vengeance to strangulate remotely critical voices,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote in a tweet.
He added,” No ‘democracy’ can survive if institutions are used to attack Opposition and Media. People will resist this.”
Echoing a similar sentiment, Congress General Secretary in-charge Organisation, KC Venugopal took to the micro-blogging site and wrote, “The IT raid at BBC’s offices reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism.”
“We condemn these intimidation tactics in the harshest terms. This undemocratic and dictatorial attitude cannot go on any longer,” Venugopal said.
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said constructive ‘criticism’ is vital for a strong democracy but in the previous nine years of his tenure, only accusations and abuses have been hurled at the ruling dispensation.
“I always welcome criticism of democracy since India is the mother of democracy. Constructive criticism is vital for a strong democracy and criticism is like a ‘shuddhi yagya’ (purification yagya). However, during the last nine years (since BJP rode to power), instead of criticism, only accusations and abuses have been hurled,” Modi had said.
