A non-profit organisation on Monday urged the government to block the multiplayer online video game BGMI-PUBG, claiming that it is a new avatar of the banned Chinese gaming app PUBG and that it poses a grave threat to the security, sovereignty and integrity of India. Reacting to the issue, RSS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) said the government should thoroughly investigate “the antecedents and China influence” of the BGMI-PUBG app and take “immediate action if found in violation”. Urging the government to block BGMI-PUBG, the non-profit organisation, PRAHAR, wrote separate letters to Home Minister Amit Shah and Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, and said the Chinese multinational conglomerate Tencent Holdings Limited had launched PUBG in India which was one of the most downloaded games at the time of its ban in 2020. “In less than a year, PUBG was re-introduced in India by a front company of Tencent – Krafton under the new name BGMI — a move that was clearly meant to circumvent the Indian policymakers,” it claimed.
On paper, PRAHAR said, Tencent is the second-largest shareholder of Krafton with 15.5% equity. “However, it is said that Tencent holds additional interests in promoter’s various businesses, through private deals hidden from the public, giving them extraordinary control on Krafton,” the non-profit organisation said, adding, “Most global media also refer to Krafton as Tencent-backed Krafton.”