“Modi’s bulldozing of Parliament shows him as the architect of a Hindu Taliban”

- Headline of an article by a writer with name Anish Kapoor, appearing in ‘The Guardian’

WHAT a nauseating way to distort things! And to make it look terrible, an Indian has written the article, and a British newspaper has found pleasure in publishing it -- along with a picture of India’s Parliament building -- suggesting that Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is representing a Hindu destructionism by wanting to bulldoze India’s historic Parliament building in New Delhi.

Worse still, this has come when the Delhi High Court has already rejected a petition challenging the capital’s Central Vista project as an essential happening, and has slapped a fine of Rs. one lakh on the petitioner for wasting the court’s precious time on a frivolous issue. Factually, the present graceful, majestic building of Parliament will not be touched when the Central Vista project is implemented. Yet, the particular article has sought to create an erroneous impression that the Prime Minister is ready to raze the Parliament building -- as “the architect of Hindu Taliban”. Obviously, facts are wrong and interpretation is not just wrong but false.

This is hardly a matter to be ignored by India as a country and Indian people. For, such coverage has become integral to coverage of Indian affairs in international media -- that otherwise enjoyed good reputation in India. Common Indians rated these media entities as prestigious because they generally believed that they followed high standards of journalism and ethics.

Recent events, however, have offered the Indian people to change that impression for good. A big chunk of international media appears engaged currently in maligning India’s image.

Enough evidence has piled up in the past some time to prove that such kind of deliberate, dirty anti-India coverage is part of a well-coordinated plan which is being masterminded by elements in India in deep collaboration with similar elements in other countries. A systematic defiling of India’s image is being undertaken through such coverage with focus against Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and his Government -- whose overall performance has been extraordinary on all counts.

What shocks the common Indian people is the fact that this dirty design is being promoted and sponsored by people of Indian origin -- with a clear devilish agenda of anti-national substance.

This scribe has had a decent knowledge of how newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations in many countries operate. He has come to a sad realisation that their adherence to principles and ethics of journalism are subject to certain gains -- mostly defined by certain political agendas. Though these entities have added much glory to the profession of journalism as alarm-criers in the democratic process, they also have earned a dubious reputation of become easy hand-maidens of vested interests. A large body of documentary evidence is available in professional and academic domains to prove that many so-called iconic media institutions have worked on hidden agendas and sinister purposes.

The current spate of anti-India coverage in many international journalistic entities is an outcome of one such agenda that some masterminds are operating to bring the country to disrepute. And in this pursuit, utter nonsense and unmitigated falsehood is their basis, their drive. These entities are happy publishing pictures of burning funeral pyres in India, seeking to suggest that India cannot cope with the massive numbers of deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic and therefore it is resorting to burning of the dead -- because there is no space left for burial.

What a distortion!

What a terrible falsehood!

This is exactly the aim of the article in ‘The Guardian’. And unfortunately, some Indian media entities, too, appear to have joined hands in this dirty design. They are constantly engaged in maligning India’s image at every step of the way -- by playing into the hands of some political vested interests. These media entities refrain from coverage of the terrible post-poll violence in West Bengal, but are extremely happy to publish wrongly presented and interpreted items with the only view to defile the country’s image abroad and confuse the common Indian people in the country.

However, all such dirty designs are now being exposed in the right-thinking media entities in India. A parallel movement has sprung up in the past some time to bring to fore the facts without any distortion, without any falsehood, and without any politically-driven agenda. This section of journalists -- in newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations and social media -- is busily engaged in demolishing the falsehood by the vested interests that have crept into the larger Indian media. This parallel movement is now bringing to the people a correct picture -- on the basis of truthful representation of facts and honest and transparent interpretation of happenings.

In other words, this may be considered a golden part of India’s democratic journey where one-sided and distorted discourse is being countered properly and successfully by nationalistic and patriotic media. Now, the common people have a good opportunity to test the correctness of political propagandism in the media.

The most heartening aspect of this situation is Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s calm composure -- as if the negative does not exist, and only the positive dominates his thought-process. This is not easy for a politician to achieve. But Mr. Modi is not a professional politician or the ordinary realm. He belongs to a class where unwavering faith in one’s ideals and undiluted commitment to one’s goal is the norm!