New Delhi: Billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned The Washington Post’s global opinions editor Eli Lopez and BJP leader Vijay got into an online argument after the latter accused the newspaper’s editorial policy of being “highly-biased” and “agenda driven”.
Taking a jibe at Amazon CEO Bezos’ “Dynamism. Energy. Democracy. #IndianCentury” post earlier this week, Chauthaiwale had Thursday tweeted: “Please tell this to your employees in Washington DC. Otherwise your charm offensive is likely to be waste of time and money.”
Mr @JeffBezos , please tell this to your employees in Washington DC. Otherwise your charm offensive is likely to be waste of time and money . https://t.co/L06kI0AqLn
— Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale (@vijai63) January 16, 2020
Responding to this, Lopez Friday tweeted saying Bezos did not dictate what the newspaper wrote.
https://twitter.com/elopezgross/status/1218197917623902209
Chauthaiwale, who is BJP’s foreign police in-charge, scoffed at Lopez’s retort and asked her to “read his tweet carefully”. The BJP leader also clarified that he had only “requested” Bezos to “tell his employees same things what he talked about India in Delhi”.
.@elopezgross , read my tweet carefully. I never said Bezos should tell WaPo what to write. I just requested him to tell his employees same things what he talked about India in Delhi. Isn’t it reasonable? https://t.co/QwxxewWwl8
— Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale (@vijai63) January 17, 2020
Things, however, heated up further when Chauthaiwale raised concerns about the US daily’s biased reporting and said its editors have “edited and deleted anti-Pakistan references” in their articles.
Btw , isn’t it true that your desk editor has edited/deleted all anti-Pak references from an invited column by a prominent Indian columnist, so much that he withdrew the article from WaPo and published it somewhere else?
— Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale (@vijai63) January 17, 2020
Lopez denied these allegations and said they have “published many articles critical of Pakistan”. “But some writers do not want to be edited. They expect publications to publish what they write, untouched and unchallenged. If an author does not want to go through. After our rigorous process, you are welcome to go elsewhere”, Lopez said.
https://twitter.com/elopezgross/status/1218203393862373377
The conversation didn’t end there either as the BJP leader asked Lopez to not “give sermons” and simply confirm or deny, otherwise the latter’s silence “could be construed as a confirmation”.
Don’t give sermons. I am asking specific case of prominent Indian columnist. Either confirm or deny. Btw, your silence will be construed as confirmation https://t.co/cvsu8xbCR0
— Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale (@vijai63) January 17, 2020
Also read: Why no one in Modi govt met Amazon’s Jeff Bezos this time and instead rudely snubbed him
‘Not opposed to Amazon’
The developments coincided with Bezos’ visit to India earlier this week during which he had announced a $1 billion investment in the country even as it drew a sharp response from Union Minister Piyush Goyal who said: “It’s not as if they are doing a great favor to India.”
Speaking to Reuters earlier, Chauthaiwala, had said that the newspaper’s coverage of India had a “lot of problems” but did not give any examples.
He had also said that he was not “opposed” to Amazon as a company.
Also read: Jeff Bezos should worry about Mukesh Ambani, not Modi govt’s probe against Amazon