Indian sports minister Anurag Thakur comes out all guns blazing at BBC over Gary Lineker’s suspension

Indian sports minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday came down heavily on BBC on Saturday after the UK media outlet suspended the host of its popular Match of the Day football show, Gary Lineker. BBC accused Lineker of violating the organization’s purported impartiality norms for his remarks about the UK government’s Illegal Migration Bill. 

While taking to Twitter, the sports minister wrote it is “Interesting” to see how the BBC which makes “lofty claims about journalistic objectivity & independence suspend their star anchor over his social media activity.”

“In yet another interesting exhibit, BBC suspends airing of a documentary it shot over fears that it would anger a section of society. Fake narrative setting & ethical journalism are inherently contradictory,” he added. 

The BBC has recently received a heavy backlash from the top Indian ministers for its two-part documentary series India: The Modi Question. The media organisation slammed Modi, Gujarat’s then-chief minister in the divisive docuseries for his alleged involvement in the riots that broke out between Hindus and minority Muslims in 2002.

The documentary was broadcasted in the United Kingdom in January. 

Against the backdrop of this, Anurag Thakur said, “Those indulging in malicious propaganda forged in concocted facts can obviously never be expected to have the moral fibre or the courage to stand up for journalistic independence.” 

The BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai were searched by Indian tax authorities last month. 

Lineker on 7 March denounced the Tory’s immigration policies, comparing them to Germany in the 1930s.  The tweets caused a significant uproar. Tory lawmakers and members of the Rishi Sunak cabinet criticised Lineker for his remarks. 

Meanwhile, the BBC said on Friday that it had opted not to air an episode of Sir David Attenborough’s acclaimed new wildlife documentary series Wild Islands. 

Some reports in the British media claim that the episode was cancelled because of concern for a potential Tory, right-wing backlash over environmental destruction. But BBC asserted that the programme was never intended to be aired in the first place. 

As a result of the controversy, the broadcaster’s flagship soccer show Match of the Day as well as other programmes have been pulled off the air and are now facing a boycott from commentators, hosts and even players.

Gary Lineker, whose career lasted from 1978 to 1994, was England’s best center-forward of the 1980s. Lineker is regarded as one of England’s finest football commentators, mostly due to his work on the BBC programme “Match of the Day,” which he first featured in 1999.

“The BBC has decided that he will step back from presenting ‘Match of the Day’ until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media,” the media organisation said in a statement.

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