Indian-origin tech investor Shumeet Banerji resigns as BBC board member
London (PTI): Shumeet Banerji, an Indian-origin tech industry investor, has resigned from his role as a non-executive board member of the BBC over "governance issues" at the top rung of the UK’s public broadcaster.
Banerji’s resignation on Friday comes amid ongoing upheaval within the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) over the edit of US President Donald Trump’s 2021 speech for a documentary, leading to the resignation of its top officials and an apology from chairman Samir Shah.
In his resignation letter referenced by ‘BBC News’, Banerji said he was "not consulted" about the events leading up to the departures of director-general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness.
"Shumeet Banerji today notified the BBC Board of his resignation,” the BBC said in a statement on Friday night.
“Mr Banerji's term on the Board as a non-executive director was due to end at the end of December and we thank him for his service. The search for a replacement is already well under way and we will update further in due course," it stated.
According to his BBC profile, Banerji is the founder of Condorcet, an advisory and investment firm focused on early and development stage technology companies. He is also listed as an Independent Director of India’s Jio Platforms Limited and is also said to be serving on the Board of Directors of Jio’s parent Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).
As BBC's non-executive director, he was receiving a base fee of 33,000 pounds per annum for a role that has the responsibility for “upholding and protecting the independence of the BBC by acting in the public interest and exercising independent judgement”.
He was also tasked with ensuring that the 12-member board’s decision-making is in the “public interest, informed by the best interests of the audience and with appropriate regard to the impact of decisions on the wider media market in the UK”.
On the whole, non-executive directors must ensure that the BBC maintains the “highest standards of corporate governance, particularly with respect to financial reporting, internal control and risk management”.
The board is chaired by British Indian media professional Samir Shah, who acknowledged earlier this month that the edit of a BBC ‘Panorama’ programme gave "the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action" on the day of the riot at the US Capitol building in Washington DC on January 6, 2021.
Trump has threatened to sue the corporation despite its apology.
Shah and two of his board members, Sir Robbie Gibb and Caroline Thomson, are due to give evidence to the House of Commons’ Culture Media and Sport Committee of MPs on Monday afternoon.
It comes in the wake of questions already being raised in Parliament over the governance of the British taxpayer-funded licence fee supported media corporation.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
