The remarks came even as Income Tax authorities continued their “survey” of the offices of BBC in New Delhi and Mumbai for a second day on Wednesday.

CAUTIONING against what he called “doctored narratives,” that seek to “run down” India’s growth story, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said here Wednesday that “dumping of information” was another way of “invasion”.

“We have to boldly neutralise it (the invasion),” Dhankhar said in an interaction with group of Indian Information Service (IIS) probationers at his residence on Wednesday. He called on them to become “real protectors of democracy and nationalism.”

Dhankhar’s remarks come even as Income Tax authorities continued their “survey” of the offices of BBC in New Delhi and Mumbai for a second day on Wednesday. Officials have alleged that the news organisation didn’t comply with transfer pricing norms and “diverted” profit. The BBC has said it is “fully co-operating” with the probe.

“In the last decade or so, a narrative was set forth by a global news house that seeks to lay claim on its reputation and the narrative was that someone possessed weapons of mass destruction and, therefore, there is a just cause in favour of humanity to take call,” Dhankar said.

The Western media had largely accepted the US claim, later found to be wrong, that Saddam Hussain’s Iraq had WMDs and this was used to justify the invasion of Iraq.

“Things happened, no weapons of mass destruction,” Dhankhar said. “Now, if India is on the rise, sinister designs are there to set afloat a narrative by free fall of information, we have to be alert,” he said, adding, “This is another way of invasion. We have to boldly neutralise it.”

The tax survey of BBC comes weeks after it aired a two-part documentary, India: The Modi Question, in the UK critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the role of the Gujarat state government – when he was Chief Minister – during the 2002 riots. Calling it “hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage,” the government had blocked video links to the documentary on various platforms.

“Everything can be white-washed, everything can go down the drain, if you are not vigilant,” Dhankhar said, adding, “We cannot allow free fall of doctored narratives to run down our growth story on so-called reputations… Examine and you will find those reputations are not firm. Those reputations have failed humanity in recent years.”

“Sometimes, an industry is ruined because of dumping. For example, we have a car industry. A giant in the world can dump cars at a lower price, industry would be ruined and then they will walk out and we will be nowhere,” Dhankhar said. “So, we had a global concept of anti-dumping. Now they have taken recourse to another (kind of) dumping – of information, which is an end tool…This cannot be allowed.”

“A vicious tendency has grown, particularly amongst the so-called intelligentsia in our country. Anything coming from outside is sanctified, elevated…We have to question it,” Dhankhar said.

“If you examine our Constitution, every fundamental right is qualified. And qualified because we believe in our Bharat,” the Vice-President remarked. “Freedom of expression is valuable and inalienable, and no country in the world has respected more than that we have in this country and that is why when we have that dark chapter of Emergency, the darkest chapter of Indian history and that was the time when judiciary was also in the dock,” he said.

Dhankhar also asked the IIS officers to become “real protectors of democracy and nationalism,” praising their role in fighting misinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic and in addressing vaccine hesitancy, as per a statement by the Vice-President’s Secretariat.

Dhankhar told officer trainees of 2020, 2021 and 2022 batches to remain ever alert and vigilant “as things get viral in a split second these days” and there was no luxury of a “delayed response.”

Also present during the interaction were Sunil Kumar Gupta, Secretary to the Vice President; Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting; and Sanjay Dwivedi, Director-General of Indian Institute of Mass Communication.

On Tuesday, the BJP called BBC “corrupt” and “garbage” and alleged that the Congress, by attacking the I-T action, was working with “anti-India” forces. Several leaders of the Opposition called the action intimidation and an attempt to silence the press.

“We are not a banana republic and we will never be,” said Congress media department head Pawan Khera Wednesday. “We are holding the presidency of G-20…By ordering such raids and sending IT teams to the BBC office…what image of India are you projecting to the world?…Modi promised to run StartUp India, but in amrit kaal it has become Shut up, India.”