BJP-ruled India has an op-ed shaped global problem. Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, his domestic critics have found new shores to launch their attacks from. These include The Washington Post, The New York Times, Gulf News, The Guardian, and Foreign Affairs, among others.
The problem has only deepened in the Modi government’s second term wherein the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the dilution of Article 370 revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status were enacted.
So, why is it that only a certain point of view gets aired in allegedly “liberal” bastions like The New York Times? Or only negative stories about India make it to The Guardian? Why is it that The Washington Post’s standards of proof and fact-checking required for Indian claims of hitting Balakot in Pakistan are never applied in case of its star columnist Rana Ayyub, who has yet to produce a shred of proof for anything she has written so far?
Also read: US politician Tulsi Gabbard calls out Rana Ayyub for tweeting ‘misinformed’ article
The binding factor
The default choice of the Western liberal media is so pronouncedly anti-Modi government that it is easy to dismiss them as writers of fiction in India. It’s not like the Indian press asks author J.K. Rowling to talk about Britain or Maya Angelou the US economy. But the British and American media do ask Booker awardees Aravinda Adiga and Arundhati Roy to comment on India.
The reasons, as usual, are multi-causal and complex.
The Washington Post, for example, is spoilt for choice. Almost all the think tanks are within a 2-km radius of the newspaper’s K Street headquarters in Washington DC. They can seek out op-eds by Jeff Smith at the Heritage Foundation, Ashley Tellis at Carnegie, Dhruva Jaishankar at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Sameer Lalwani at Stimson Center, Richard Rossow at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) – all of whom will be less than a 20-minute walk away. These people are classified as serious experts on topics ranging from the Indian economy to Indian nuclear weapons. Yet, the newspaper’s star interpreter of India is Rana Ayyub. Why?
The answer is simple. Few of those outside the policy circle have heard of Jeff, Ashley, Dhruva, Sameer or Richard. Their precision and nuance are for the technically minded — they can’t and won’t dumb it down to suit the prism of the country club liberals and the enraged masses. Rana Ayyub, on the other hand, will — even the Supreme Court had rejected her book Gujarat Files – Anatomy of a Cover Up, which an NGO seeking further probe into Haren Pandya murder case had relied upon, by saying it was “based upon surmises, conjectures, and suppositions”. But as long as Rana Ayyub can bring the clicks to their site, she’ll always be more valuable than any serious analyst.
Also read: In Rana Ayyub, the White West has found its next Arundhati Roy
The working gang of the foreign press
There’s a reason movies do better than documentaries. The state of journalism is such that no one gets as excited by facts as they do by yarns and sharp, polarising opinions. That’s why digital media needs people like Rana Ayyub and Swati Chaturvedi. Many of them have formidable social media following, which always helps bring web traffic.
One test is to see how many of their articles are published in the print version of the newspapers they write for. The second point is the way publications pick columnists, which isn’t driven by the salience or substance of the authors’ arguments. The dirty secret of the publishing trade is that organisations choose someone they are socially and politically compatible with in this age of hyper partisanship.
If you’re a member of the Italian Cultural Centre or the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Delhi or if you are just waltzing by Khan Market, you’ll often find the NYT, WaPo, Guardian, WSJ correspondents hanging out there. Invariably, they are influenced by the likes of Rana Ayyub, Arundhati Roy, and Pankaj Mishra. These foreign journalists don’t want answers; they seek validation of their pre-existing views. Much of this has to do with the social dynamics of Delhi where White people slot themselves into a social strata that would be well outside their station back home — not unlike British cockney colonels who suddenly found themselves catapulted to hunting with maharajas in India.
Also read: You can’t cancel Modi, RSS: Why US-style identity politics won’t help Indian liberals’ fight
Left’s permanent struggle with narrative
The champagne socialists’ unmistakable feature is that once it crowns you as a legitimate voice, it starts promoting you socially and economically as well. The champagne socialist influencers amplify the ‘Left voice’ by sharing articles written by other like-minded authors, so that the ecosystem continues to flourish. This lobby consists of status quoists who now feel dispossessed by the Modi administration and the only tool to fight back is a full-scale narrative hijack. This is where foreign publications and their op-eds come in, fighting the diplomatic war against India in cahoots with the desi Left.
There are two aspects to this narrative hijack — and none seems to be working for the Indian Left. The first is the global hyper partisanship and the near simultaneous collapse of the centre brought on by social media. Be it the US, the UK or India, social media has essentially taken us back to the Athenian Agora period when Socrates was condemned to drink hemlock. There is no room for nuance or building bridges, and the extreme viewpoint invariably seizes the narrative. The second factor further disturbed the Left’s narrative game — the emergence of leaders such as Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Narendra Modi on the Right. For these leaders, the more extreme the virtue signalling, the easier the election contest, which I have written about earlier. In a way, The New York Times and The Washington Post are ensuring Modi’s re-elections by such strident content — a classic case of the path to hell being paved with good intentions.
Let’s be clear, though. In this day and age, there is no money for serious research. Falling media revenue means that cheaper opinions will always be prioritised over expensive facts. Here, the yarn spinner always wins. The only one who gets carried away by this drama is the gullible public. Media outlets and their agent provocateurs regard this template as a cash cow, while the targeted politicians love it — the more media outlets publish such voices, the more votes they get. It’s a classic win-win situation that suits everyone.
The author is a senior fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. He tweets @iyervval. Views are personal.
This article has been updated to reflect changes about authors who write for foreign media.
Why does the liberal media rile the right week media so much? They have their views and every right to them. Stupid term ‘champagne socialists. ‘I consider myself a liberal thinker and I don’t glug champagne every day nor do I come from a wealthy background. Learn to allow other people’s opinions sir and stop dubbing them as lies.
Had u been liberal enough u would have openly embraced his views . That’s where modern self proclaimed liberals have turned themselves into laughing stocks. They never allow the same freedom of opinion to their ideological opponents that they demand
Theyer practice what they preach. They have a tendency to assume they “know it all” .kind of liberalism that Congress or left espouses. Double standards and hypocrisy is the reason why liberals are called “libtards ” these days. Selective outrage and selective silence is what has also contributed to their losing credibility. Let me give some recent examples.. Swara Bhasker types outrage with Boys locker room but prefer silence with girls one. Khan market gang literally shakes the world when a criminal muslim is beaten to death. But in recent months, there have been a spate of hindus killed ( I believe u follow some indian media too) but they are suspiciously silent. Then take fundamental Islamists like arfa Khanum types , according to them JSR is Communal chant but olla hu uber is patriotic. Or those magazines which preaches us that burqah is liberating and a womens choice but a dupatta is patriarchal domination on women. Or for example those movie reviews which state Tanhaji is a “trash hindutva” project but “Aryavart is chillingly true “. Or say when Arnab Goswami or Sudhir Chaudhary gets targetted , people like u or Dhruv Rathi celebrate , but turn it face and lecture on decreasing press freedom when a congi slave like Varadarajan gets notice served. Or for that matter those like Vinod dua who idolize Nehru and curse anyone raise valid criticism of him ,only reason being ” u can’t criticise someone after death” but the same guy dua in another video of his ,after Atal Vajpayee death asked us “Why can’t we criticise someone after death?”
It is this kind of apparent double standards that makes librals as librandus, which I will call you too . Now since I have completely Pulverized u, u can hide in some hideout. Good bye
Hah another crazy Malayali beef eating hinduphobic Christian, brainwashed by local Malayalam media whose only job is to demonise modi and BJP. Uncle ur stuck in the past where it was believed that pm modi was complicit in “riots ” not “pogrom” of 2002 , started by a muslim person , who there a gas stove inside the train. It’s they who started it and casualties were from both sides and when casualty is from both side it’s not pogrim. It’s pretty basic uncle , ok boomer? What uniformed bigoted fools these malayalis are wow. Now lets come to the present. Supreme court have absolved him from any kind of complicity in that incident. Now Even supreme court must be lying isn’t it? What a hateful prejudiced uncle tom u r. Keep burning ,India doesn’t care. Don’t cry for central aids during disaster . No quarters given no quarter asked.
Finally Nehru spread love? Are u dumb or Outta ur mind? He is the guy who arrested so many journalists and actors and producers during his rule , who were critical to his views. And his crime doesnt end there. He had issue with Vallabh Patel , plus he is the single responsible guy for Kashmir crisis. I M only 23 , and I seem to have more facts than so called “literate Mallu uncles ” like u. So much ignorance , so much prejudice, so much bias , so much lies , so much posion ?? Hahaha. Keep burning keep burning. Kerala is going downhill with rising Islamic terror. They won’t spare u too. Today they r ur bedfellows. Tomorrow they will massacre u, like they r doing else where. And plz get back to 2020 From 2002. Even staunch anti modi propagandist like Rajdeep sardeshai have appologised. More elements like u hate himz more popularity he keeps gaining. Keep
Utsabd Banerjee: Thank you for informing us that you are 23 years old. Reading your puerile rants, I thought you were just 3 years old.
It’s the one-sidedness and lack of balance or nuance, that is most repellent. “Lies”, well I suppose sometimes. But these media are usually clever enough not to lie.
What is there to love Modi? His political genesis, his claim to the position he is in today was in evil. Pogrom 2002 under his watch.But for this evil he would not have been here as PM.Why blame others for not “loving” Modi. Evil can breed only evil. He appealed to the evil in the people and won over them.that is much easier than winning over with love as Nehru did
Dr Joji Cherian: You are spot on.
Unfortunately, in a country as heterogeneous as India, identity politics, particularly the identity politics of religion can yield significant payoffs. Bal Thackeray exploited the “Marathi Manoos” identity and deployed his thugs against “kaala madrasis”, Biharis, North Indians, Muslims and later even against Gujaratis . The DMK plays a similar game in Tamilnadu. Likewise, the BJP fought the 2019 elections on primarily a religious agenda. Perhaps the only exception to this trend in India maybe Kerala where the BJP’s unique brand of religious hatred came to a naught.
In any case, then CM Modi’s Gujarat Model of hate and polarisation is being extended to the whole of India. Muslims & Christians today, God alone knows which group will be the next target in this vile BJP project of setting up Indian against Indian. One hopes the country remains intact.
Your comments here are setting up a preemptive argument Of I told you so. Usually it is a reaction that people like Rana Ayub wait for to write about. Like regular screams from the loudspeakers into our homes ,people Blocking public spaces for prayers regularly.Sometimes animals are being slaughtered as sacrifices in residential areas in front of children generally not of the same faith. This is offensive. Standing up to it is termed as targeting a particular community. People Are seeing through this and are becoming more expressive. Religion is archaic.
Many here feel that English media press is not the widely read one. But its US, UK and France who lead the opinion war and shape it for the Western world still. France has quite a few English speaking people and its channels too telecast English programs. NYT, WAPO, Economist etc are much widely read than other European ones. The target audience too is different and the purpose for which its done too is well defined.
I like the fact that Abhijit chose to write in a web magazine thats part of the cabal and Shekhar Gupta the shameless editor published it!
Not so long ago these same Western media outlets were writing articles about Prime Minister Modi which would have put Shakespeare’s love sonnets to shame. Now like jilted lovers they abuse the PM. Everyone has an agenda and they support or denounce on the basis of whether someone will serve or not serve their agenda.
Oh, so you think the change in attitude has nothing to do with the actual performance of Prime Minister Modi? Sorry, but many people pinned their hopes on him – his promises of development, no corruption, etc – only to have those hopes crushed.
Excellent retort Ms Sandy Tatham.
Alas, for the members of the Modi cult, the man is a Messiah who can never go wrong. Indeed, the more violence PM Modi unleashes on Muslims, the greater his popularity becomes. After the Godhra pogroms of 2002, when the Bajrang Dal, the RSS, the BJP and other lumpen organisations of the Sangh Parivar went about raping, pillaging and burning innocent Muslims under the watch of then CM Modi, his government was dismissed. But he won the subsequent elections with a thumping majority. Clearly identity politics, especially exploiting religious identities for political gains pays big in India.
The danger now is that the Gujarat model is becoming and indeed being made the norm for the whole of India, especially North India. The creation of a Hindu Pakistan is well underway.
One thing is clear from this piece. The writer perhaps is a member of Bootlicking Club of India. And thinks the entire world press has ganged up against a person, under whose watch, Gujarat saw its worst manslaughter and rape. Shame!
The Print editor’s contempt for the left is also equally clear. Today the so called Left has managed Kerala much better than BJP has managed it’s states. And in human indices, it is head and shoulders about the rest. But in the Print’s eye only the champagne carrying left is visible. Why? When has Shekhar Gupta last had a kind word for the Left? In fact, there’s been enough praise lavished on Advani even after Babri. Why? People who accuse others of being modi haters must examine their own sense of heightened objectivity.
RANA AYUB & SWATI CHATURVEDI DO NOT OPERATE IN FRENCH, DANISH, NORWEGIAN, SWEDISH
Mr Abhijit Iyer-Mitra is concerned with the shenanigans of the Rana Ayubs, Swati Chaturvedis and their anti-national op-eds in leading English language newspapers like the New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post and so on. In the worldviews of Mr Iyer-Mitra and his many supporters in the comments section below, these congenital Modi haters allied with the liberal English language media are the sole reason why India gets a bad rap internationally. Everything in India is hunky-dory for minorities and Muslims who don’t fear for their lives. Indeed, Mulims regard gaurakshaks as Good Samaritans ! Why then this storm in a gomutra lota ?
Clearly, for Mr Iyer-Mitra and his ilk, facts on the ground don’t matter. To them, state supported violence against Muslims as well as a discriminatory political ideology called Hindutva have nothing to do with the negative press India receives. Everything is the fault of these bloody leftie journalists – uppity women to boot – such as the Rana Ayubs, Swati Chaturvedis, Arundati Roys and so on. These anti-nationals have single-handedly tarnished the reputation of Bharat mata, fabricating stories about discrimination and violence. Accordingly, the lynchings of Mohammad Akhlaq, Junaid Khan, Tabreez Ansari, Pehlu Khan, Riyazuddin Ali, Abu Hanifa etc. never took place. The families of these men are living happily ever after.
Maybe the English media is biased. But what about media in languages other than English? Surely, they are not the happy hunting grounds of these lefty journalists with an anti-nationalistic bent of mind? Surely, the French, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian media, bereft as they are of these anti-nationals must have great news about India? Alas, that is not the case Mr Iyer-Mitra.
I speak all the above languages, besides a smattering of English. I decided to check out the press in the non-English speaking world and what they think of India. Here are some headlines quickly translated to English.
FRANCE
Le Monde, 19. Dec 2019
L’Inde est en train d’institutionnaliser la discrimination des musulmans
India on track to institutionalise discrimination of Muslims
Ref: bit.ly/2YHts3U
Le Figaro, 12th April, 2019
Inde: le chef du BJP veut jeter les immigrés illégaux à la mer
India: BJP head wishes to throw illegal immigrants in the sea
Ref: bit.ly/3chT2jH
_____
SWITZERLAND
Tribune de Genève, 26th Feb 2020
Le bilan des violences augmente à New Delhi
The scorecard for violence points upwards in New Delhi
Ref: bit.ly/35LBPwA
_____
SWEDEN
Aftonbladet, 16th Aug 2019
Tufft för oliktänkande i Modis Indien
Difficult for those who think differently in Modi’s India
Ref: bit.ly/2zr89Zy
_____
NORWAY
Aftenposten, 19th March 2020
Hatet er oransje i India. Og det sprer seg raskt.
Hate is orange coloured in India. And it is spreading quickly
Ref: bit.ly/2WgjkgP
_____
DENMARK
Politiken, 15th Dec 2019
Indien vil indføre lov, som diskriminerer muslimer
India to introduce laws that discriminate against Muslims
Ref: bit.ly/3bgyFCn
Admittedly, the vast majority of Indian journalists writing for a foreign audience write in English. Likewise, most Indian readers confine themselves to the English speaking world. But a large chunk of the world does not use English, particularly in Europe and even more so in France. And when India’s image in this non-Anglophone world is also at its nadir, it must reflect the sordid facts on the ground. It reflects the violence, discrimination and religios intolerance that one in the past associated with Pakistan and not India.
In 6 short years, the Modi led BJP government has squandered the vast reservoir of soft power that India had accumulated over decades, including under the previous BJP led Vajpayee regime. And soft power does not emanate from a 56 inch chest or from the rabid screaming matches of India’s wannabe Göbbels and the face of Indian journalism today – Arnab Goswami.
Mr Abhijit Iyer-Mitra’s preposterous theory that India’s image abroad is created by a few Indian female journalists is completely shattered when one looks at the world beyond the ambit of these ladies.
And finally, in the humble opinion of this simple clerk operating out of a corner office in an obscure corner of this world, these brave Indian women journalists and writers have the gall, the spunk and the balls that the Arnab Goswamis and Abhijit Iyer-Mitras so visibly and sorely lack.
In fact, there is nothing to comment or write about the Modi and his party other than to applaud the emperor’s cloth.
Excellent observation Mr Venu P !
Now-a-days, one needs to look at various traditional media to triangulate and decipher the truth. Pointing to various vernacular media does not support one’s argument. Too many people working in some obscure corners of the world know the truth about what Abhijit Iyer has written. I endorse his comments about anti-India foreign media aided by Indian cabal. Arguments cannot be won by labeling.
Mr RJ: Thanks for the response.
Pray tell us what the hell is “traditional media to triangulate and decipher the truth” ? Media accessible only in English? Is truth something that can only be told in English? Not in French or Finnish? Or Arabic? And care to explain to simpletons like me as to what “triangulate” is ? A novel litmus test for detecting the truth ?
Additionally, when you, like India’s colonial masters condescendingly refer to indigeneous and commonly spoken languages as “vernaculars” unworthy of being considered in a debate, you do put yourself among the ranks of the champagne swilling classes don’t you ?
And in any case, facts on the ground are shaped by the activities of your thuggish gaurakshak friends and their political backers, not by recalcitrant, anti-national journalists – women to boot – and a hostile foreign press. When murderous thugs are aided and abetted by men in high positions like that violent monk Adityanath, BJP bigwigs like Tejaswi Surya, Jaynt Sinha, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, PM Modi, Amit Shah and their ilk, is it any surprise that the press writes about it ? When journalists like Gauri Lankesh get murdered by Hindu right wing groups like Sanathan Sanstha that derive their legitimacy from the BJP whilst at the same time affording the BJP deniability why blame cabals?
At the end of the day, people like you refuse to acknowledge that Hindutva terror is an intended and deliberate facet of the BJP. The question then is: Why do educated people like you endorse it ?
You need burnol
“these congenital Modi haters allied with the liberal English language media are the sole reason why India gets a bad rap internationally”
Absolutely, its not like the western Media bothers to listen to Regional Language media of Indians to get to the grassroots of everything. They just lean on the little Liberal stooges they’ve groomed using their Liberal ideology, like YOU for ex.
“Clearly, for Mr Iyer-Mitra and his ilk, facts on the ground don’t matter”
Quite the contrary, Iyer is suggesting that the FACT of how India is viewed globally MATTERS, something you liberals don’t particularity give a damn about in your “Crusade” against some Hindu Boogeyman.
“state supported violence against Muslims”
No such thing ever happened in India.
“uppity women to boot”
OH NO, we can’t say anything about women.. HOW dare we? PATRAICHY MISSSONGY…. is what i would say if i was a lefy coward lol I treat Women&Men EQUALLY like a true Gender Equality person. I don’t care if you’re a woman or a man, its what you DO&SAY that DEFINES YOU. Arundothi roy is a known NAxalite Supporter, i should let her off the hook because she is a woman? NO
“Accordingly, the lynchings of Mohammad Akhlaq, Junaid Khan, Tabreez Ansari, Pehlu Khan, Riyazuddin Ali, Abu Hanifa etc. never took place”
Isolated incidents of crime happen all the time, it is you lefty India haters that take these incidents and make it seem like its the advent of next Hindu-Muslim Civil War..
“And when India’s image in this non-Anglophone world is also at its nadir, it must reflect the sordid facts on the ground”
NO it does not, its just that the ENTIRE western World follows the same cooked up narratives.
“In 6 short years, the Modi led BJP government has squandered the vast reservoir of soft power that India had accumulated over decades”
Soft Power is coping mechanism for the defeated, I’m no BJP supporter but i’d like India to be AGGRESSIVE and ASSERTIVE as a Nation. BJP is doing exactly that, i hate modi personally but i can’t help but support him because he’s better than spineless cowards like Manmonhan and Rahul. I like BJP’s ZERO compromise policy towards Kashmir.
“beyond the ambit of these ladies”
Stop hiding behind the Sarees of Women to shield your Western Imported Cancer ideology from Criticism, you COWARD Liberal! Your Liberal ideology is the brainchild of racists from 19th century, its a fact..
“in the humble opinion of this simple clerk”
You were anything BUT humble in this hate filled spiel of yours. As for me, i don’t need any women or Arnab to speak for me, i defend my culture, my dharma, my people UN-Apologetically.. Unlike you, i don’t drag the reputation of my nation to ground to defeat some petty ideological opponents in India, unlike you i care about India’s dignity.
Very true
It gets to a point where one becomes numb with indifference to the fact free, tone deaf & one dimensional views dripping of the pages of the NyTimes, Guardian or the Economist. The Guardian refers to a recently killed terrorist as merely a “rebel”, the Associated Press writes on privacy fears over Aarogya Setu app “ in a country with no data privacy laws”, The NY Times covered the Citizenship Amendment Act as if a pogram was underway in the Country, The Economist for all its revered history openly asked Indian voters to throw their lot in with Rahul Gandhi…it’s non stop barrage of idiocy. Quite frankly I’m not as perturbed anymore as I once was, life goes on, they lost their credibility and whilst I still read them, never take anything at face value.
Ms Sugandi: You claim to continue to read the NY Times, the Guardian and The Economist despite their “fact free, tone deaf & one dimensional views”.
You remind me of almost all GOI officials: When the want facts, they don’t check Doordarshan or for that matter any Indian channel. They go straight to the BBC. Several high ranking officials from my own family in the GOI admit to doing that tacitly. Whilst in the past, one could be reliably sure that monopolist Doordarshan would be a few hours behind a BBC or a CNN to tell you breaking news, these days, one has many a Doordarshan clone through the phenomenon of paid news. A sting operation a few years ago revealed that almost all Indian newspapers were willing to publish flattering and indeed inflammatory news for a price. No wonder that India today is placed at an abysmal 142 out 180 countries surveyed in the Reporters Without Borders Index of Press Freedoms, ref: https://rsf.org/en/ranking_table And yes, India is ahead of Pakistan which is ranked at 145 !!
I now understand why you prefer to read the NY Times, the Guardian and The Economist despite their “fact free, tone deaf & one dimensional views” !
Leave what says and who says, simply if election happens , who again get the Votes, we all knows, then who cares for the outsider. Some people, always be there, who wants to take credit saying against the wind. They never praised anyone in the world . We have to that much of courage, to praise someone for his work.
Mr. Abhijit, how much are you sold out to this foreign media. I’m a foreigner but in love with your country and respects to a PM like Modi. Learn to be an Indian first as you are lucky enough to be born there!
So a men belittling foreign media over its consistent anti-India stance is “sold out to foreign media”?
Mr. Abhijit, how much r u sold out to this foreign media. I’m a foreigner but in love with your country and respects to a PM like Modi. Learn to be an Indian first as you r lucky enough to be born there!
YS Aryan’s comment is worthy of a completely independent, well-researched article in itself.
“This article smell slike a distinct case of sour grapes.
Tennis pros often complain that Roger Federer gets preferential treatment – the biggest courts, the best times. The fact is, that he’s the person the fans want to watch most. So he plays where the most people can fit in, at the time most people are free to watch. Therer’s no other bias at play!
Similarly, prestigious foreign publications publish articles and op-eds from people the readers want to listen to. In addition, the people you’re sour about also have that elusive thing called spine. The newspapers know that their opinions will be free, independant and immune to pressure.
So, no, they would’nt want fake, biased articles from the likes of Arnab Goswami or you.
Modi’s problem is not the articles, but the policies and decisions that fuel them. Take the Delhi riots for instance. Everyone can see that the state forces were biased, that Muslims bore the brunt of the violence, as well as the following arrests. So it’s natural they would want an op-ed ny Rana Ayyub who spoke of the exact same sequence of events a few decades ago. And what do you mean there’s no proof. People have openly admitted to state support for their violent acts in Gujarat – on camera. That it wasn’t proven was only because the system was gamed by Modi. Delhi is the perfect case in point!
Mr Subin: A well written, hard-hitting comment, reflecting my own views as well. You hit the nail on the head when you so accurately summarise the issue:
“Modi’s problem is not the articles, but the policies and decisions that fuel them”
You might also want to have a look at my comment about what the international press in non-English speaking countries has to say about India under ruler Modi. One can be certain that “anti-nationals” such as Rana Ayub, Swati Chaturvedi, Arundati Roy etc. do not write for the French, Swedish, Norwegian or Danish press and yet India gets flak.
After all, when Ajay Bhisht, the vile “Hindu” monk and UP Chief Minister unabashedly calls Muslims the “green virus” and exhorts his followers to resort to violence against Muslims, you don’t need Rana Ayubs and Swati Chaturvedis to tarnish India’s image. Additionally, the fact this savage man’s incendiary statements are very likely done with the approval of his bosses in Delhi & Nagpur is something that cannot be hidden from the world. And Bhisht is tipped to succeed Modi !
The Modi government has only itself and its tacit approval of violence against minorities to blame for the bad press it receives outside India. But alas, Mr Iyer-Mitra, brought up in the hallowed Indian tradition of paid news cannot fathom that.
I find it hilarious that some people claim foreign news papers are balanced in their views about india. This means they really don’t like india, it’s civilisation and contributions. But heck who cares about them, india has changed for good. If not the gandhis would not have lost Amethi. Indians are getting to know their real history, which none of these news papers have courage to confront. The lie about human rights, secularism and appeasement is all visible to Indians now. The agenda driven lens is off.
Mr Naren: You claim:
“india has changed for good”
On what parameters has India changed for good Mr Naren? Employment & inflation? Press freedoms? Safety and security of minorities, particularly Muslims? Lynchings have gone down? Religious tolerance has improved? India’s image abroad has improved? Muslim countries where Indians work are happy at the BJP’s anti-Muslim rhetoric ?
Care to elaborate from facts on the ground rather than Hindutva and BJP propaganda Mr Naren?
What your so called minority Muslim(although they are now more than twenty crores from two and half crores in 1947) have not freedom and security.They are opening converting marrying non Muslims girls, openly throwing stones on medi cal staff,blocking the roads in the name of freedom of opposition.What you want more for them.Secondly no Muslim countries have courage to challenge modi India.Are you aware?
Mr Rakesh Chaturvedi: You pontificate:
“no Muslim countries have courage to challenge modi India.Are you aware?”
Well, like the vast majority of blinkered, blind Modi bhakths and scrotum scratching Hindutva intellectuals, you too are obsessed with Islam and Muslims. And in your saffron tinted worldview, India’s greatest dangers are posed by Muslims, external and internal.
Have you forgotten about a country called China which thrashed India militarily in 1962 ? And continues to thrash and annihiliate India in virtually every economic activity? And is now allied with several Islamic countries? So care to check with the Gujarathi geniuses who rule India control your intellect and get back Mr Rakesh Chaturvedi ?
And have you forgotten that India thrashed China in 1967 at Nathu La? And continues to thrash China in democracy, freedom and the primacy of the human spirit and soul? If such things can be measured. That China is not admirable, and if it is taken seriously, it’s not for good reasons.
india has a good leader, who is not from Lutyens, Khan Market or convent schools. This is a major reason why that crowd doesn’t like Modi. Their liberalism, as such, doesn’t extend to Modi or people who don’t speak polished English
Well He Got Arrested, These People Don’t. In my region the Jan Aushadhi Kendre has been a big hit in selling lower price generic medicines, Ayushman Bharat Cards Too , Village Lady was able to conduct her eye operation in the rather high costing private hospitals.for free . all the transformers in our area have been replaced with the new ones that do not burn out. We are now almost getting 24 hrs electricity which was just 8-12 during Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav times. local crimes are reducing many mobsters have been encountered. Constant cleaning activity by swach bharat team also takes place weekly. the NPS Pension Scheme is also epic. All In All Its A Great Journey . Looking forward to 2029.
The only reason national media (with honorable exceptions) is not doing the same is that it is either bought or coerced. Any one allowed to tell the truth will say that same – that BJP policies are anti-democratic, anti-minority, anti-poor, anti-women, irrational and increasingly anti-national.
An excellent comment Ms Anamika !
Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the BJP’s policies is that the very unity of India has been compromised by the fact that an ideology of hate viz. Hindutva dictates domestic and foreign policy. And alienates many domestically as well as outside the borders of India.
The BJP forgets that India is essentially an administrative entity of the East India Company and later the Crown which lumped together some 600 odd princely states that dotted the region. As such, the exit of the colonial masters resulted in the division of this region into 2 countries and later into 3 when E.Pakistan became Bangladesh. The cohesion of this vast geographical unit cannot be taken for granted as the BJP & RSS believe.
India, like Pakistan consists of regions that are “held together” as opposed to having “voluntarily come together” to form a country. That the country has largely held together, despite the many movements that have tested national unity is perhaps the greatest achievement of the Congress. And no, I am no supporter of the Congress or the Gandhi dynasty. But perhaps by a combination of both accident and design, the Union has largely held, despite Sikhs wanting an independent Khalistan, Kashmiris wanting out, various parts of the North-East in turmoil, language conflicts in the South, religious conflicts everywhere, caste strife all over the country and so on. You only have to leave India to see that most Indians come together, not as Indians but as speakers of same languages. Indeed, there is severe animosity and suspicion between Indians from various regions even when they are abroad. Nation building in India is still unfinished business and very much work in progress.
The much ballyhooed Gujarat model never had to deal with issues such as national unity – something the two bearded Gujaratis who rule India don’t seem to comprehend. Additionally, unlike the state of Gujarat, the country called India has to operate in an international context and has to deal with a wide array of international actors and interests. Thus calling Muslims as termites to be thrown into the sea or anointing a rabid, vile, violent “monk” as CM of a large state is bound to attract attention overseas. When the state not only looks the other way when its citizens are lynched and when the murderers are garlanded by Ministers and followed on Twitter by the PM, the image of India sinks to lower levels than that of Pakistan.
Facts on the ground cannot be concealed in 2020. Especially when one of the facts is fascism.
Are you the one getting ₹2 per comment?
Modi is violating human rights and has spoiled Indian image in the world. It’s a question mark on democracy. If you call this a democratic india then what would dictatorship be like. These newspapers are showing the world the true image of India and I congratulate them on their stance. Indian lobbying have tried to buy them but failed and now they have started to use social media against them but the world knows the Indian BJP and RRS supremacy policies and agenda. I support print midia for highlighting humanitarian atrocities committed in India by BJP and RRS. They’re telling people that India is for Hindus only
Well friends let me inform this to all the readers that I have been working with a national media house and know most of the people working for The Print.
By now you all must have understood by looking at the type of contents of The Print that even a school kid can write a better story then them. And yes you all are correct that most of the so called “journalist” from The Print are those who were rejected from all the reputed news agencies and rational media houses because they were not qualified or intelligent enough to become a journalist at all ( Some even don’t have genuine academic certificates ). So they formed their own news agency called The Print ( BIRDS OF A FEATHER , FLOCKED TOGETHER ) . And they were financed by some Anti Nationals and opposition parties to be used as their mouthpiece. The motto of this news house is to write negative things against the government and certain communities because if they don’t do so then they will die out of business , reason being no one reads to their b___s____ news .
So friends just ignore what ever they write ( NEVER ARGUE WITH FOOLS BECAUSE FIRST , THEY WILL BRING YOU DOWN TO THEIR LEVELS , AND SECOND THEY WILL BEAT YOU WITH THEIR EXPERIENCE ) . They are any ways going to become beggers in time to come as I know they are struggling to keep up with everyday expenses.
Modi is violating human rights and has spoiled Indian image in the world. It’s a question mark on democracy. If you call this a democratic india then what would dictatorship be like. These newspapers are showing the world the true image of India and I congratulate them on their stance. Indian lobbying have tried to buy them but failed and now they have started to use social media against them but the world knows the Indian BJP and RRS supremacy policies and agenda. I support print midia for highlighting humanitarian atrocities committed in India by BJP and RRS.
A good one ! Rightly so !
Another blind BJP supporter…and he will fight to destroy, and or simply will not allow anyone sharing opposing opinions. BPJ is the new Nazi Party, and these type of guys are its promoters.
You basically haven’t understood the article from the get-go. It is criticizing the consistency in the anti-BJP stands of some “liberal” foreign media and the absence of any sort of counter-opinion. In other words, it seems like these outlets are increasingly taking political stands against the BJP instead of providing space for opinion on both sides of the spectrum.
Indian Media have an inferiority complex! They like to portray India as the worst nation in the world in all respects, any other nation is better according to them, they never have the spine to criticize any other country!
Is it that, we want them to write
What they see not
What they hear not N
What they …,
This poorly written piece is diatribe at best, with little substance to dignify it as an opinion. One can only wonder at the editors of the Print, as one presses the unsubscibe button.
The visceral images of India’s poor trudging back in soaring temperatures is sufficient to reveal the underbelly of the nation and the hollowness of our leaders. The illegal detention (at the behest of builders) of hundreds of workers by the Karnataka Government which cancelled the very trains scheduled to take them home is proof of the lowest form of crony capitalism.
Instead of confronting these utterly tragic issues, the writer – if we may call him one – seeks to distract readers with hypenationalism (the neologism is deliberate) against a disillusioned Western media that once feted Modi and his cohorts as the new outriders of neoliberalism.
Foreign vs. Desi media ? You cannot shut the door in global village, thanks to sceince. News go out and come in. If only development is all around, news will focus on development story, debate on pros and cons of development, corruption in project and so on. But if hatred overtakes development what is left, an environment of suspicion, criticism, fodder to media both foreign and desi to indulge in endless debate on it. Now it is also joined by social media. Cycle is complete. We all are developed now.
Adv. Shakil Akhtar
Supreme Court
9717214471
If you are really an advocate in Supreme Court.
Your English and Writing skills reminds me of Jolly LLB advocate scolded by Judge??
Whatever you want to write and whatever the world wants to they can write but Modiji is came for the India from the India and will live for India and to showcase the world its soft power potential and win the world with peace and parallely destroying the bad things from India, you may change people’s narrative about Modiji but no one can change Modiji’s narrative about India and their people. This era will be called as NAMO’s era. Surely he is writing history, you may not feels so but he is…?.
Mr Tejas Deoghare: You pontificate:
“Modiji is came for the India from the India and will live for India and to showcase the world its soft power potential”
By all accounts, the one thing that the NaMo regime has squandered is India’s enormous reservoir of soft power. Yes, soft power stemming from nearly 7 decades projecting India’s image as a tolerant, secular democracy where people of all faiths rub shoulders, generally in peace. India’s brand was bolstered by figures like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, non-violent protest, cultural exports like Indian cuisine, Bollywood, yoga, tourism and so on. And as someone who has been living in Europe for long, I have benefitted colossally from this lovely India of image as a tolerant democracy. So much so that may of my Pakistani colleagues would masquerade as Indians to avoid the stigma of being identified with the mullah managed, exporter of terrorism that their country, Pakistan has become.
All that has been demolished by a Gujarati graduate of Delhi University with a pogrom under his belt and a penchant for a fascist ideology of hate called Hindutva. No Mr Deoghare, just as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan exported fundamental Islamism, Modi too has exported rabid Hindutva beyond the borders of India and has ruined India beyond recognition. Today, Hindutva ideology and a gaurakshak type mentality has permeated the diaspora. You see NRIs talking the language of Yogi Adityanath and spewing hatred against non-Hindus in the very countries they earn a living. And running afoul of local laws.
No Mr Tejas Deoghare – not only has your beloved NaMo wasted India’s soft power resources in such a short span of time, he has also lowered India’s image to that of Pakistan. Due, in no small measure to fawning, uncritical bhakths like you.
There was a time wen Modi came on cover page. That time foriefn media was for him. Wen real facts r coming out in the open or rather skeletons r coming out of the cupboards…people understood the hate MONGERS of India. Don’t blame the media now!!!
Only a fool would trust international media over domestic media to report things happening literally in front of his eyes.
This is the worst article I have read in last one week.
Not surprised since it’s written by a far-right fascist Abhijit Ayar Mitra.
Classic example of what the article talked about — you accept and propagate articles that validate your biases, and reject the ones that shatter them.
This article is spot on
One more aspect of these Champagne socialists that you have missed out.Money.Lot of money is going into these publications.So these “avenues” are indeed cash cows for them.
Absolutely rubbish article fit for swarajya and Opindia type of platform. I am not sure if and The Print has also joined their league. Someone somewhere has to write about the true picture of the government otherwise godi media is just bootlickers only.
Reading through the comments , i realized that those supporting authors view just have no other comment on anything mentioned in the article.
Those opposing authors views are just attacking the authors motivation. None of them has logically critiqued the article.
People are just consuming news like junk food.
This is true as the target audience of these Foreign journalist is in the Home Country.
I am an Indian fluent in French, Italian and living in Chennai for last 25 years and I must say that not a single article has been published that shows India/Indians as normal civilized country.
I should say it is “Because ” or “Thanks to” to various factors : 3 things made in India : Mother Teresa, Slum Dog Millionaire and Taj Mahal( Tea or the monument) are synonymous with this Crowd.
Even in the Case of Covid 19, they said thanks to China and Covid ,Indian PM does not have to worry abt the Economy.
And the Elephant among them: The Economist :Since 1991 till date ,there is no mention of India as a soft power. It is this :5th Arm of west that India needs to wary of .
Firstly because their pointing our facts. Secondly. Habe u ever condemned yogis speeches about raping dead women after dragging them out of their graves. Kashmirs not a part of india and never was. India how ever was an integral.part of india.also coined the name of jewel in the crown. Stick to india.leave kashmir
Not true sir, Modi was praised several times by The Economist and WSJ. There is a “groupthink” phenomenon developing in India today and not long ago we use to characterize Pakistan that way!
We are not civilized, when will you understand. We were civilized when we were actual Hindus. The Brahamanical society is new to Hinduism, it has fiddled with the Hindu philosophy of Karma and painted lie around it. Buddhism and Jainism are offshoot of actual Hinduism or rather the purest form that exists now.
The current Hinduism is a corruption of thought and human values, don’t know how it got corrupted but Brahamans and upper cast are the symptoms and show and tell that everything is messed up in current Hinduism. Are you really blind to what’s happening in India. The country decided to move forward but these leeches of upper cast won’t let it move ahead.
Do you think that corruption in India is exported, no it’s because of Hinduism. Just like the western religions are materialistic (in bad sense). Wake up were are not civilized. Only few countries in Europe are civilized. But we are the bottom on the way to become a fanatic state like some we know.
Which French newspapers do you happen read Mr Ganesh Narayanan ? Much of what you write makes no sense and looks like the ranting and raving of a crazed Bihari gaurakshak …
Easiest thing is to blame others instead of looking into a mirror. Modi and co have to accept valid criticism from world media. After all, India is largest democracy in the world.
Certainly. But one needs to be clear about what valid criticism is. If it’s just baseless allegations, there’s no point attending to it. This is something RaGa does all the time.
If it is press that is asking, it must be backed with evidence. People are the readers and they are quite well informed these days. Hence the allegations made through press needs to be more solid than just following some rhetoric.
In spite of failures world over of regimes of communists the left oriented journalists are still trying hard to fight a loosing war of debate and analysis, may be they became psychic and unable to digest the glory and success of Mr Modi
Mr Narendar Matha: The bulk of the press outside India is appalled over the Modi government’s treatment of minorities. They include media from both left of centre as well as right of centre publications. And despite what India’s paid media tells you, facts on the ground cannot be made to vanish in 2020 and they will always reach the rest of the world. Indeed, the successes that then CM Modi had in concealing the viciousness of the Godhra pogroms under his watch cannot be replicated easily in 2020. Thus, the Mohammad Akhlaq (RIP) lynching in 2015 made international headlines, much to PM Modi’s chagrin. So much so that he eventually was forced to confront the issue with a statement, limp and deflecting responsibility from his own persona though it was.
As regards your claim about the “glory and success of Mr Modi”, well, you need to remember that India’s domestic opinion of the man has surely been created by various media campaigns and a paid, pliant press. Of course, people like you might eagerly lap up the hot air emanating from Arnab Goswmani’s orifices but the rest of the world begs to differ. After all, the man was denied a visa to much of the Western world wasn’t he ?
There were brown sepoys during colonial times and nothing has really changed for India in the 21st century. These sepoys specialize in serving to their white massas regurgitated slop that help to reinforce the neo-colonial stereotypes and religious prejudices that lie just below their pale skin. It is essentilly a subcontinental phenomenon as one doesn’t find chinese sepoys (eunuchs?) avidly serve Western interests in this manner or in these numbers.
But it is a Pyrrhic victory for these champagne leftists and Islamists because their strident, one-sided and palpably biased reportss, which may earn them pieces of silver, is rejected by the majority of Indians with whom Modi’s popularity has never been higher. We have had the examples of the shrill concerted attacks about church burnings initially, beef lynchings subsequently, and now Islamophobia, that predictably rise to fever pitch ahead of national elections only to vanish after showing how marginal, ineffectual and out of touch with reality they actually are.
And their unrelenting negativity only results in even some liberals sympathizing with their targets. Even Manu Joseph, as left liberal and parochial as they come, felt compelled to comment about the one-sided and terribly biased coverage in the Western press of the recent Delhi riot. What it does to the current generation of Hindu youth now exposed to so many sources of facts and history that were previously suppressed or squelched will only exacerbate the divide; and they are the majority.
Writer talks about clicks of People opposing Modi but look at audience in comments. Same people you ll find in other Indian news sites. Why dont they ask for anti Modi articles for clicks ?
NYT, Washington Post have reporters based in India. They see the ground reality and report it but are not afraid of Mr. Modi as rest of India media is. Please Limit yourself to Swarjya or OpIndia as Other places you ll get real news.
Sir, if you have chosen to discount the “foreign media” in one generalized swoop you have succeeded. However, it is a specious analysis. The Wall Street Journal, which I subscribe to in addition to others, is known for it’s balanced reporting. Allsides gives it a center to center-right bias. The same paper wrote very positively about PM Modi and his party a few years ago, moreover, over the years the mood has shifted. That shift has occurred in many publications across the political spectrum. Instead of shooting the messenger, perhaps the BJP should take note, but would they?
It’s an interesting article. The author has completely left out these news papers critique of their own country’s leader and is obsessed with Modi bhakti. This article is nothing but a further evidence that some people do believe in elite vs non-elite. It’s sad that the author has completely succumbed to his biases of demigod he worships. The news paper like NY Times and WaPo have time and again proven that they are mostly by partisan, although they are liberal they don’t cover alternative facts. The author is completely devoid of any social understanding, because he cannot see that Trump US and Modi in India are completely playing communal and class politics. Articles like these are so blind to existence of truth that all they see is a bias. Hopefully when the tides will turn voices like this authors would drown out with the alternative facts. No one actually cares about India in US or any where in the world.
To others , don’t be afraid of minority when you are the majority, it just shows how coward you are. Remove Bhraminism and castism from the county if you have courage. Pathetic excuse for an existence.
Also to elaborate on “No one actually cares about India in US”. If the countries government does not care about it’s poor then why should one care about them. Look at what your god wrought upon poor people, from demonetization to the latest fiasco of leaving thousands stranded in middle of no where.
You are very triggered and if you have ever been to India you must know the debates here. Indians Don’t need to cared about by west and what do mean “nobody cares about India in US?” US’s whole fucking economy revolves around country like India. Every detail about India matters because India is the 5th largest economy and then if you’ve been an Indian then be respectful to the welfare system of India which provides subsidized education and if not you then your father must have benefitted from this so called “rotten” system here in India.
Liberals like you are the leeches sucking the real meaning out of the word. Effing woke dumbass.
The ismein(Brahminsm.caste.class) exist n universal manifested or latent. It’s habit to put everything on a communal clour when it’s for hindustan rather something hard n true about the other religions. Conversion appeasement approach is viewd negative to secular. The truth that it’s majoritain hindu maintains n promote secular credentials and nationalists view promote n improve it. The Western media is silent on conversion lynching of sadhus and so many incidents. The comments of Western media is simply because it’s a right wing government and pro-nationslist ideology and hv new thought n vision setting aside the sterotypic colonial approach n sentiment. Not simply looking into what others say rather what India needs n thinks
Good read. There could be other reasons for why we get to see solely negative coverage of India in supposedly “liberal” media outlets — white man’s perceived burden to safeguard democratic and liberal values globally, misunderstanding or disdain for Hinduism or apprehensions of the Western elite as Asia once again takes the centre-stage in the World Economy and the balance of power shifts.
Mr Abhijit Iyer-Mitra pontificates:
“BJP-ruled India has an op-ed shaped global problem”
Clearly, this worthy, like the many fawning, sycophantic “journalists” belonging to the paid journalism tribe such as India’s answer to Nazi propaganda Minister Göbbels Arnab Goswami seems to have forgotten the maxim:
“There is no smoke without fire”
Honestly Mr Iyer-Mitra, are journalists writing stories in foreign publications solely to smear the BJP and without any basis in facts? Isn’t it true that the vicious and deadly BJP ideology called Hindutva that now has taken root in India entails discrimination and violence against Muslims? Is your fellow traveller Arnab Goswami’s take on events the gospel truth ? Don’t you think that ordinary, completely law-abiding and patriotic Muslims would feel insecure in a country where the Home Minister calls them termites? And are you so bloody naïve as to think that 2 Indian journalists are the sole reason why the BJP and its current Hindutva implementers led by PM Modi get a bad deal in foreign media?
Go pour yourself a stiff peg of gomutra Mr Iyer-Mitra and jump into the Ganges. The Gangajal might even ward off COVID 19 – after all your beloved BJP wants to allocate funds for research into the curative properties of said effluent and rotting corpse rich liquid.
So what irritates you is BJP and hindus use gaumutra and are promoting it, which in fact should not be a concern to anybody as it does not encourage violence and only insunuates that the animals must be loved The gaumutra and hate towards cow people is a popular motif in jihadi messages. All this leads us to believe that gaumutra will ultimately bring out the real face of closet hate mongers. So the hindus are on correct path
It’s not Muslims feel insecure but it’s a strategy by few so-called seculars n progressive left for political interest induce this. If press is so imparital the issues must hv been placed in it’s context n perspective. Lynching of sadhus. Conversion of Hindus by Christian missionraries. Introduction of modern education in madarasa. Triple talaq law. Article 370 etc etc. It’s a new thought a new vision not that of reference approach to state kalidas as India’s Shakespeare rather the reverse. When Western say it is progressive when the current govt. BJP it’s not easy to digest. This is simply a bias
Mr Shishir Kumar Grahacharya: Thanks for the response – to the extent it can be called a response to the issues I point out in my post. For, like Mr Iyer-Mitra, you too beat about the bush and talk about everything under the sun – barring the sordid effects of Nazism lite a.k.a. Hindutva on minorities and the bad press it receives in the wiser world. Yes, Hindutva is a violent, deadly, malevolent ideology that tarnishes India’s image no end although it is warmly embraced by your ilk lock, stock and barrel. And like Mr Iyer-Mitra, you too obfuscate by sallying forth with all sorts of ir-relevant digressions and distractions.
But these digressions are persistent in the Hindutva narrative and let me address 2 of these.
Lynchings
Tell me Mr Grahacharya – Who is in greatest danger of getting lynched in Modi’s India – Hindus or Muslims ? What do the statistics show ? And more importantly, what is the state response to lynchings ? Protection of innocent Muslim cattle traders or Union Ministers garlanding your marauding, bloodthirsty gaurakshak buddies?
Conversions
Although I am personally against the dis-respectful conversion activities and exploitation of poverty by Christian missionaries, equally relevant questions are:
Why are the missionaries successful, especially with poor and lower caste Hindus ? Don’t missionaries step in when the state neglects the poor ? And who but caste Hindus are responsible for violence against lower caste Hindus & Dalits? For instance, who was responsible for the brutal thrashing of Dalit cattle traders in Una, Gujarat? Any surprise that upper caste Hindus create fertile ground for opportunistic missionaries?
From a legal perspective, missionary activity is protected under Article 25 of the Indian Constitution:
“Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion”
Want to tinker with Art. 25 and open Pandora’s box Mr Grahacharya ?
As regards your claim that Muslims do not feel insecure in India and that all this negative publicity is the handiwork of progressives and seculars, well, the facts don’t bear you out Mr Grahacharya. There have been sharp increases in lynchings and acts of violence against Muslims after the BJP came to power and more so in BJP run states. What is much worse is that police and the state machinery openly side with the violent, lumpen wings of the BJP and do not protect the victims. You can get the statistics here: https://www.thequint.com/quintlab/lynching-in-india/
During the Godhra pogroms of 2002 under then CM Modi, whenever hounded Muslims approached the police for protection, they were rebuffed with a terse:
“We do not have orders to save you”.
What was once a Gujarati phenomenon, is today becoming the norm in most of North India and in all BJP run states. If you are a Muslim, your life is worthless. And that state sponsored violence cannot easily be concealed – even without a Rana Ayub or a Swati Chaturvedi writing op-eds in American and British newspapers.
The Print should ban your comments based on your foul language and personal attacks. Pathetic hateful behavior.
Mr Vj Rang: Thanks for your response.
No foul language or four letter words were used in my post – I never need to resort to that. Yes, sarcasm, facts, an oblique statement linking loudmouth and the face of Indian journalism Arnab Goswami to a similar figure from Nazi Germany have been employed. And I have suggested that Mr Iyer-Mitra adhere to the prescription for curing COVID that his paymasters in the BJP have written out: Gomutra & Gangajal !
That apart, I do not see a single counter-argument in your response. Just, the usual knee-jerk reaction of a bhakth when arguments get the better of him: “Ban him”.
Pathetic !
Your piece was written better than Mutra’s, I mean … Mitra’s.
Thank you Mr Jivan !
Haha what a meltdown. U got to be an intolerant mallu ,from down south Kerala to harbour so much hatred and illfeeling towards hindus . Beef eating Rice bag convert spotted who posts and gloat beef pics on twitter just to mock hindu sentiments, something they can never do with Muslims. Have guts to make derogatory remarks against prophet ?? Hell no. No 1 in terrorist export. No 1 in love jihad . No 1 in political murders . No 1 in forced conversion . Widely believed that Kerala is the next Kashmir.
Simple. They are not F e k u s like the Indian press.
You guys should ease up on the vocabulary a little bit. For an average indian with not the best english who’s reading this article at 4 am it’s gets kinda hard.
In their desperation, the champagne socialists are making the case for Modi. Being a liberal I too find the articles in Wapo, NYT, and BBC strange and out of line rants. No wonders liberals like us see the ground vanishing and credibility shrinking fast! These people are doing more harm than good to the liberal cause.
I agree that they are not good enough to report or share objective opinion about india.
Rana Ayyub has problem when arvind kejriwal asserts his religous identity ( her tweets after kejriwal won Delhi), but no problem when some people assert religious identity. ( AIMIM or when someone from Assam said they cant say Jai hind or something because of Islam). It is absurd that she has problem with Arvind Kejriwal showing his religious identity.
But i think writer is wrong that they hire this people cos they have social media following that gives more clicks to their websites. I think Washington Post and NYT wont run adds , they use pay wall.
In india there is some attack on media. Gov is not assaulting media, but there is attack, when they fire journalists and stop ads . why is he not talkig about indian media , not being fair? Shows his bias.
The interest of reading papers is devindeled due to biased reporting and low level reporting. So called journalists always bring “freedom” freedom of speech and religions. Ayyub type can never understand what freedom is for none muslims. I dont want to bring religion into it, thede broadsheets are one sided money oriented lie spreaders. Because west and US are interested keeping Pakistan on their way geographically opperesser ali, the press will never give news in favor of India. Modi is kicked left right and centre by Muslims paper jeorneolist always take anti Modi side
Modi trying to save India from becoming Muslim country helped by Arabs. West is already gone that way.
Almost the entire article is spot on. Except the part where the author says that it’s only eyeballs on the website that they are after. I think, if these western newspapers were to publish an article from say an Arnab Goswami etc. they will attract far higher eyeballs as per the current scenario. So it’s not just the eyeballs, it’s also alignment with their own ideologies … Which is currently anti Trump (anti right) and therefore they align perfectly with anti right left liberal gang of India.
You got it western media are leftist mostly and congress pay them big bucks to make them look good
The entire western media, and certainly the ones mentioned by Iyer-Mitra, is a giant echo chamber. They all say the same thing, over and over again. There is never any positive, balanced, subtle, nuanced, erudite article coming from their pages. The story “religious hatred grows during India’s covid-19 pandemic’ was repeated ad nauseum. Not a single article about any Indian effort or achievement. It’s pure colonial rubbish.
New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, all big names. What about Pulitzer Prize? Its board has now questioned India’s very legitimacy over J&K! “In a major controversy, the Pulitzer Prize board has questioned India’s legitimacy over Kashmir, calling the valley a “contested territory” whose “independence” was revoked and “executed through a communications blackout”.” “This year, the US-based Pulitzer Prize for best feature photography has been awarded to three Associated Press (AP) photographers — Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin from Kashmir and Channi Anand from Jammu, “for their striking images of life in the contested territory of Kashmir as India revoked its independence, executed through a communications blackout”.” Have “the likes of Rana Ayyub, Arundhati Roy, and Pankaj Mishra” influenced the Pulitzer Prize board also? And who has influenced the US State Dept? It says, its official view is that, the LoC is the defacto border between India and Pakistan, in stark contrast to India’s claim that J&K is an integral part of India. Does it listen to Rana Ayyub, Arundhati Roy, and Pankaj Mishra, while disregarding what Modi and Jaishankar have to say about J&K? Out of about 200 countries in the world, how many support Modi/Jaishankar’s claim that J&K is an integral part of India? And what about Indian-origin lawmakers in the US, like Pramila Jayapal, Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, and Kamala Harris? They all are critical of India’s policies in J&K, and CAA, NRC, etc. Just about a week ago the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), mandated to monitor religious freedom globally on Tuesday asked the State Department to designate 14 nations, including India, as “countries of particular concern”, alleging that religious minorities are under increasing assault in these nations. Even the UN has objected to the CAA. Why? If Rana Ayyub, Arundhati Roy, and Pankaj Mishra are so influential that they influence these great newspapers and people, then don’t you think India should listen to them too? You should be questioning why Modi/Jaishankar have failed to convince Modi’s chum Trump and his honcho Mike Pompeo that J&K is an integral part of India. Instead, you are wasting time talking about Rana Ayyub, Arundhati Roy, and Pankaj Mishra.
Why should they? There are psychological reasons, none of them good, that those Indian and Indian origin individuals “question” India over Kashmir. It’s because they want to be seen as superior to India, for one. Career advancement is another, as is the desire to be seen as politically correct. . As for the religious freedom nonsense, the criticism of the USCIRF is really only resentment that India doesn’t grant Christian missionaries and evangelists full freedom to carry our their conversion activities. There is not, never has been, a problem with ‘religious freedom’ as such, in India. The Hindu religion accepts different images, and modes of worship, as well as paths to contemplate the divine. Lastly, India doesn’t need validation from the US government, media and commissions for its policies. But it will refute these entities’ grossly one sided,, arrogant and mindless criticisms.
You seems to have lots of time to write a lengthy comment. So where is the question of wasting time.
Kya bola hai bhai ne, “Let’s be clear, though. In this day and age, there is no money for serious research. Falling media revenue means that cheaper opinions will always be prioritised over expensive facts.”
We can see your article and understand the falling revenue of the publisher.
Hahaha. Very savage. This cost reduction seems to be happening in most Indian “news” publishers
Iyer-Mitra’s article drips with angst at not being invited to the Khan Market gang’s cocktail parties. Keep trying a bit harder bro, you will surely get the leftovers some day.
Cheap shot. The Khan market and Lutyens group, is quite alienated and out of touch with the sentiments of most Indians.. What about Iyer-Mitra’s astute observations?
Nice and true srticle
Naturally eagles would visit and capture pictures of a vast place, which hitherto proved to be a veritable graveyard, ensuring constant supply of corpses. Frustrated by the sudden, abrupt stoppage of that supply, they released the images of the graveyard, clearly conveying the message, in which state they really wish to see the province. Those who clapped for them here laid bare their real wishes.
Interval is Pro-Modi; Chaturvedi- Rana are anti-Modi. Both are in the media. People understand.
Brilliant article and a slap on the leftists. Couldn’t agree more how Modi benefits more from such putrid, one sided, media pukings by leftists like Rana Ayyub, the sight of whom would make any cockroach orgasmic.