In a bid to downplay the achievements of India and the Indian Navy, propaganda outlet The Wire on Tuesday misquoted Commodore Jaideep Maolankar (R) by taking his quotes from Barkha Dutt’s show out of context. In a series of tweets, Cmde Maolankar pulled up The Wire pointed out how every quote they’ve attributed to him are true, but taken out of context to mean completely the opposite.
@thewire_in You either have some score to settle with the Navy (on 2nd thoughts-armed forces in general ) or some other vested interest in such biased writing. Mr Rahul Bedi, not sure how you sleep at night @VishnuNDTV @ShivAroor @ajaishukla
— Jaideep Maolankar (@JA_Maolankar) September 6, 2022
Cmde Maolankar asked whether The Wire either had some score to settle with the Navy, rather the armed forces, or some vested interested owing to such biased writing.
In its article titled “Time for an ‘Accurate and Down-to-Earth Assessment’ of Vikrant, Say Veterans”, The Wire massively downplayed the Indian Navy’s feat of commissioning first Made in India aircraft carrier last week. Quoting Cmde Maolankar from his discussion on journalist Barkha Dutt’s show, The Wire downplayed INS Vikrant. While Cmde did say that the INS Vikrant is a modest carrier, but owing to our rich history, the indigenous aircraft carrier will only act as a stepping stone for more such carriers to come. “It is going to adapt, but it is going to grow even further,” he had said. He also pointed out how India is amongst the few countries to have the capabilities of making its own naval aircraft carriers, fighter aircrafts that can go with these ships and even aerial weapons and hence the commissioning of INS Vikrant should be viewed in such wider framework.
He later explains on what he meant by ‘modest carrier’. He said that since he was the first to land an aircraft on an aircraft carrier (INS Vikramaditya in January 2020), he said that those who do not fly fighter jets, these ships are projected as ‘massive’, ‘biggest’ or ‘largest’ and even names signify grandiose, but from the perspective of bringing fighter jets on the carrier, it is a modest one. But The Wire chooses to not mention how he then also talked about we should continue to be self-reliant. He also talked about challenges India is facing and might face in future in terms of national security, which as a veteran, it makes complete sense.
The Wire, however, dismissed the excitement Indians had over the commissioning of INS Vikrant as “breathless hysteria in official, military and media circles” and insinuated that Cmde Maolankar, through his statements that India could and should do better is ‘giving a reality check’. The Wire further downplays the commissioning of INS Vikrant by pointing out how this wont be operational till end of 2023 and various other pointers to portray how the celebration of INS Vikrant is meaningless.
Citing some unnamed ‘senior security officer’, The Wire then mentions how Cmde Maolankar’s comments were ‘accurate and down to earth assessment’ as against ‘frenzied reaction to Vikrant’s commissioning by a cross-section of serving and veteran naval officers, other military and defence officials, analysts and electronic and print media reporter’. Essentially, The Wire tried to portray an out of context comment by a Navy veteran to punch down the excitement of millions of Indians who were excited about commissioning of INS Vikrant, 75 long years after having attained Independence. Rest of the article also paints the Indian Navy in poor light, insinuating India is not combat ready.
While The Wire article does mention that Cmde Maolankar made these comments on Dutt’s show, many Twitter users were left wondering why did he agree to speak to The Wire that has a reputation of misleading reports especially to build an anti-India narrative.
And that’s what is even more deceitful. Makes it appear like I have given an interview to The Wire! Have I ?? For all the people commenting that I should have known better!
— Jaideep Maolankar (@JA_Maolankar) September 7, 2022
However, Cmde Maolankar pointed out how that was also deceitful on The Wire’s part as what they did make it appear like he gave an interview to them.
