‘BBC running anti-India propaganda with Chinese money’

New Delhi: Mahesh Jethmalani, an Indian lawmaker from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has alleged that the “anti-India” British Broadcasting Channel (BBC) is “so desperate” that it receives funding from China-linked Huawei.

Jethmalani’s comments come 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 desperately needs funds to take it over from Chinese state-linked Huawei (see link) and push the latter’s agenda (BBC a fellow-traveller, Comrade Jayaram?). It’s a simple cash-promotion deal. BBC is for sale.

In the tweet, he shared a link to a report by UK magazine The Spectator titled ‘BBC still taking money from sanctioned Huawei’.

What does the Spectator report say?

According to the article, the ads on the BBC’s website featured ads paid for and presented by Huawei, which was sanctioned by the US in 2019, including ‘The new frontier of education: how we can bridge the gap between education and bright Boasts about ‘bringing young minds into the digital future’. ,

The content was reportedly curated by the BBC’s sponsored content team known as ‘Storyworks’.

“Outside 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. A BBC Studios spokesperson said That said, all commercial content must comply with our Advertising and Sponsorship Guidelines, which are publicly available.

Why did the US ban Huawei?

In 2019, the Trump-led US administration imposed trade sanctions on the Chinese manufacturing company due to security concerns.

The country eventually barred Huawei from using Alphabet Inc’s Android for its new smartphone devices.

According to The Indian Express, the sanctions also affected the sale of Huawei’s handset devices.

Mahesh Jethmalani’s other comments on BBC

This is not just a comment made by the BJP MP, who is also a senior advocate.

In another tweet, Jethmalani said, “Besides publishing a mutilated map of India with J&K till 2021, when it apologized to the Government of India and corrected the map, another one of BBC’s propaganda against India.” Has a long history. The anti-PM documentary is a continuation of this sickening trend.”