New Delhi: British high commissioner Alex Ellis said on Wednesday that in general “good friends” can disagree in response to a question on the income tax raids on the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai after the airing of a documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots.

At an interaction hosted by Ananta Centre, Ellis described the BBC as a highly respected media house. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had accused the BBC of showing its "colonial mindset" by airing the documentary.

“The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a globally respected institution and broadcaster whose news material I consume every day. Secondly, all organisations have to obey the law of India. BBC is talking to Indian authorities about that,” he said.

Stating that he wouldn’t share the content of his discussions with Indian authorities, Ellis noted, “But good friends can also disagree. I think that it is okay to disagree sometimes”. He appended that he was making a general point.

Income Tax officials conducted raids at BBC offices located in Delhi and Mumbai. They alleged that several irregularities were detected, which included non-disclosure of certain remittances as income in India, as well as non-payment of taxes on those remittances.

The action was taken approximately a month after the BBC broadcasted its two-part documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The first part of the documentary reported on a UK government inquiry that held him "directly responsible" for the anti-Muslim violence that occurred in Gujarat in 2002.

The MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had slammed the BBC documentary as a “propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative”. “The bias, the lack of objectivity, and frankly a continuing colonial mindset, is blatantly visible,” he said.

Regarding the damage to the premises of the Indian high commission and the removal of the Indian flag by pro-Khalistani protestors, Ellis characterised it as a "symptom of extremism" and noted that it posed a "risk" in any country.

“There is no disagreement. What happened at the Indian High Commission is not okay. It is a symptom of extremism. Overall extremism is a risk in any country,” he said.

The British envoy expressed his complete understanding of the anger in India over the vandalism at the High Commission, adding that he would be equally agitated if such an incident occurred at the British High Commission.

After the London incident, India summoned the senior-most diplomat present at the UK high commission. Security barriers outside the UK high commission and the high commissioner’s residence were also removed.

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