On Friday (August 26), former CEO of Prasar Bharti, Shashi Shekhar Vempati, debunked the anti-India propaganda of the New York Times and its guest essayist Debasish Roy Chowdhury.
In an article titled, ‘Modi’s India is Where Global Democracy dies’, Chowdhury cast aspersions on India’s vibrant democracy and its institutions. The Hong Kong-based journalist claimed that India has embraced intolerance, Hindu supremacy and majoritarianism.
He further alleged that the country has shunned ideals of secularism, pluralism and religious tolerance under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chowdhury was irked by the fact that the United States did not reprimand India, despite his concerted efforts to demonise the country.
The New York Times’ guest essayist went on to claim that India has descended into tyranny, a process that has somehow accelerated under the BJP rule. He, however, failed to provide evidence for the same.
In a bid to appear neutral, he briefly criticises the 34-year-long Communist regime in West Bengal and the incumbent Trinamool Congress dispensation. Chowdhury claimed that the Indian government has failed the poor citizens, despite the Centre implementing multiple policies for their welfare.
He then used the same tricks employed by an average leftist to shame India at a global level. That included stories about perpetual Muslim victimhood, supposed breakdown of the law and order system, aspersions on the credibility of the Judiciary and supposed curbing of dissent in India.
Chowdhury also attempted to create hysteria about an impending ‘Muslim genocide’, redefining of ‘secular India as a Hindu State’, weaponisation of law against ‘minority’ Muslim community and supposed State patronage to convicted rapists of Bilkis Bano.
Shashi Shekhar exposes the pro-China bias of Debasish Roy Chowdhury
In an article in The Print, Shashi Shekhar Vempati ripped through the guest essay by the Hong Kong-based journalist in The New York Times. At the very onset, the ex-CEO of Prasar Bharti pointed out how China has been actively using social media influencers to disseminate pro-Beijing propaganda.
He also cited another research report wherein Standford Internet Observatory found a network of Facebook and Twitter handles peddling Western narratives in specific geographical regions.
Shashi Shekhar stated how a recent analysis in the peer-reviewed journal of the Indian Institute of Mass Communications (IIMC) exposed the use of sensational headlines and trigger keywords in foreign publications to defame India on an international scale.
“The guest essay in The New York Times is a typical example of the kind of narratives global mainstream media have been carrying on India for some time now. Curiously, the article had little to say about ‘global democracy’ despite the title,” he emphasised.
The former CEO of Prasar Bharti listed various pro-China and anti-India articles by Debasish Roy Chowdhury, dating back to 2008. He remarked, “From questioning the role of anti-China narratives in Bollywood to blaming Indian media for ratcheting up China tensions, this essayist seems to have built quite a resume over the years, batting for China at times overtly and at other times subtly while tiarding against Modi’s India.”
Shashi Shekhar also pointed out how Chowdhury has been soft on pro-democratic protests in Hong Kong and has tried to mainstream the fake narrative that India provoked the Sino-Indian war of 1962.
“Stunning though is how between 2019 and 2022, more than 25 articles by this author have singularly focused on the so-called death of democracy in Modi’s India with not even a single instance of mildly positive commentary,” he emphasised.
The meltdown of John Keane and his pro-China bias
Shashi Shekhar’s article in The Print ruffled the feathers of a Sydney-based political scientist named John Keane. He tweeted, “Falsely accused by Modi toady Shashi of defaming India and writing ‘paeans to China’, my co-author coolly explains why Modi’s India is the world’s biggest failing democracy…”
falsely accused by Modi toady @shashidigital @ThePrintIndia of defaming India and writing ‘paeans to China’, my co-author @Planet_Deb @nytimes coolly explains why Modi’s India is the world’s biggest failing democracy…@PanMacIndia @OUPPolitics pic.twitter.com/IxHFmLrATr
— John Keane (@jkeaneSDN) August 29, 2022
Interestingly, Keane and Debasish Roy Chowdhury are the co-authors of a 2021 propaganda book titled, ‘To Kill a Democracy: India’s Passage to Despotism.’ As such, his sudden urge to defend Chowdhury makes perfect sense.
After all, John Keane’s pro-China antecedents are out in the public domain since 2018. In an article published by Inside Story, Professor John Fitzgerald reveals how the political scientist has been an apologist for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Reportedly, Keane dislikes the association of authoritarianism with China. “He dismisses authoritarianism as a convenient label, or “mantra,” employed by blinkered observers to distract readers from the protean experiment that is China and to blind them to what the country has to offer to the world,” wrote Fitzgerald.
According to the Professor, Keane finds the Chinese one-party system ‘enduring’, given that it enjoys popular support. To his mind, the Communist country is in fact a ‘phantom democracy.’
Fitzgerald states, “He finds that the omnipresence of the word “democracy” in Chinese films, in textbooks, in uplifting speeches and declarations, in conversations with visiting scholars such as himself, suffices to warrant China’s inclusion in the ranks of democratic countries.”
Keane claims that China is inching towards a form of democracy by winning the consent of the public through opinion polling, time limits for officeholders and conduct of local elections.
The CCP apologist has even written a book titled, ‘When Trees Fall, Monkeys Scatter: Rethinking Democracy in China,’ to mislead people into believing that the communist country is gradually turning democratic.
While non-State actors and pro-China lapdogs have been desperately trying to tarnish India’s image globally, John Keane’s attempt to defend Debasish Roy Chowdhury over the latter’s tirade in his latest column in the New York Times that vilified PM Modi and India demonstrates that global propagandists have been working in tandem to reinforce their narrative and suppress voices that seek to call out their treachery.
