Income Tax Survey on BBC: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Compares BJP to Hitler, Terms Action Unfortunate

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today launched a scathing attack on the BJP government over the ongoing Income Tax Survey at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai. Hitting out at the BJP, Banerjee said that the only mandate of the saffron party is a dictatorship and they are more than Hitler. She accused the BJP of pursuing vendetta politics. 

"The income tax survey on BBC is very unfortunate and it shows the political vendetta of the BJP government...The income tax survey on the BBC is affecting freedom of the press and there will come one day when there'll be no media in India," said Banerjee at her chamber in the West Bengal assembly.

Comparing the BJP to Hitler, the West Bengal CM said, "BJP's only mandate is a dictatorship, (they are) more than Hitler."

The Income Tax Department survey operation against BBC India continued for the second day today with sleuths understood to be making copies of electronic and paper-based financial data of the organisation, officials said. The tax department had launched surveys on Tuesday at the BBC's Delhi and Mumbai offices along with at least two linked premises as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion against the British broadcaster in India.

The action comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary, "India: The Modi Question". The Modi government has banned the documentary in India. The same was also challenged in the Supreme Court by some opposition leaders.

According to a PTI reprort, the tax officials are speaking to staffers of the BBC in the finance and some other departments even as other staffers and journalists were allowed to leave Tuesday night. Some computer peripherals and mobile phones were cloned as part of the operation, officials had said.