New Delhi: Escalating its offensive on the Centre over Income Tax survey at BBC’s offices in Delhi & Mumbai, the Congress party launched a frontal attack on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing a press conference over ‘sealed’ BBC offices, Congress slammed the Centre for ‘stifling’ press freedom and took a father of hypocrisy swipe at the Prime Minister.

“India is the mother of democracy but why is India’s Prime Minister ‘Father of hypocrisy’ What will you get after sending IT-D to BBC office? Will his image get better?,” said Cong spokesperson Pawan Khera. He also said  that the incident has damaged India’s global image at a time when the country is hosting the G-20. Leading the attack, Khera said anyone questioning Prime Minister Modi about his past is "raided" and accused the government of “demolishing the fourth pillar of democracy.”

Khera asked that “If BBC is a part of a foreign conspiracy, why did you raid Dainik Bhaskar, NewsClick, Newslaundry, NDTV, The Wire, The Quint, the list is endless. Were they all part of a foreign conspiracy?” 

He also added that “if everybody is a part of a foreign conspiracy, where is your foreign policy…Yes! India is the mother of democracy but, unfortunately India’s Prime Minister is the "Father of Hypocrisy" which came out very clearly yesterday,” 

Highlighting that BBC works on the licence fees, which is paid by the subscribers to a post office in the United Kingdom and then that fees is handed over to BBC to run day to day operations, Khera took a jibe at Modi saying, “They (BBC) do not depend on the advertisements, first of all. How does Indian Income Tax department come into the picture, I don’t understand, I am sure, even Modi Ji doesn’t understand.

“So, if anybody talks about Modi’s past, that media house, its present and its future will be destroyed by Modi’s agencies, his frontal organizations.”

Supporting Editors Guild of India’s stand on raids at BBC offices, Khera said that the grand old party will not “tolerate these brazen attempts to shut independent media voices in India.”