The BBC considers Mao a ‘hero’

In China mulls Mao banknote change, one can read the following lead paragraph.

China may remove Mao Zedong's image from its mixed range of banknotes to make room for other heroes, according to the state media.

Mao Zedong is to be considered among “heroes”? Is that the same Mao Zedong whose government policy caused the death of several tens of millions of Chinese (from 29 million to around 70 million, claim various sources)?

One could be led to believe that it is the state media which refers to Mao as a hero, but neither Xinhua, the government’s official press agency, nor the People’s Daily, the Communist Party of China’s official newspaper, consider Mao a hero among others.