Image used for representational purpose. AFP
New Delhi: An Indian Member of Parliament from the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Mahesh Jethmalani, has alleged that “anti-India” British Broadcasting Channel (BBC) is “so desperate” that it receives funding from Chinese-linked Huawei.
Jethmalani’s comments came amid a controversy revolving around a BBC documentary on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The BJP MP said in a tweet, “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.”
In the tweet, he shared the link to a report titled ‘BBC still taking money from sanctioned Huawei’ by a UK-based magazine called The Spectator.
What does the Spectator report say?
According to the article, advertisements on BBC’s website showed adverts paid and presented by Huawei, which was sanctioned by US in 2019, boasting about ‘The new frontier of education: How can we bridge the education gap and bring bright young minds into the digital future?’
The content was reportedly curated by BBC‘s sponsored content team known as ‘StoryWorks’.
“Outside of the UK, BBC.com – the BBC’s international news and sport website – is funded through advertising. This allows us to invest in our world-class journalism and bring it to a global audience. All commercial content must adhere to our advertising and sponsorship guidelines, which are publicly available,” said BBC Studios Spokesperson.
Why did US sanction Huawei?
In 2019, the Trump-led US administration imposed a trade ban on the Chinese manufacturing company owing to security concerns.
The country eventually barred Huawei from using Alphabet Inc.’s Android for its new smartphone devices.
According to Indian Express, the sanctions also affected the sales of Huawei’s handset devices.
Mahesh Jethmalani’s other comments on BBC
This is not the only comment made by the BJP MP who is also a senior advocate.
Jethmalani, in another tweet, said, “Apart from publishing a truncated map of India w/o J&K until 2021 when it apologised to the Indian govt & corrected the map, BBC has a long history of spreading disinformation against India. The anti PM documentary is a continuation of this malafide trend.”
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