On Thursday (May 22), leftist news outlets such as The New York Times, and ABC News tried to discredit Prime Minister Narendra Modi by falsely claiming that he did not attend any press conference since 2014.
The New York Times made the outrageous claims ahead of PM Modi’s joint press conference with US President Joe Biden at the White House.
In a tweet (archive), it claimed, “If Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi responds to questions along with President Biden at a news conference, it may well be the first time since he was first elected in 2014 to do so.”
The tweet was accompanied by a propaganda piece, written by a ‘journalist’ named Mujib Mashal. He alleged that PM Modi had been evading the media since his time as the Gujarat Chief Minister.
Mashal also gave a clean chit to Islamists by avoiding mention of the Godhra train carnage and making false statements about the 2002 riots, which broke out after the Godhra carnage.
“Under his watch, the state broke into widespread riots in 2002, and Mr Modi was accused of looking away — or even enabling — Hindu mobs who went on deadly rampages in Muslim neighbourhoods,” Mahsal wrote for The New York Times but failed to mention that he was exonerated by the Supreme Court of India.
Similar lies were peddled by ABC News but unlike the NYT, it did so after the conclusion of the joint press conference of PM Modi and President Joe Biden.
‘Journalist’ Mary Bruce falsely claimed, “That is the first time in Prime Minister Modi’s nine-year tenure that he has ever taken a live question like this from a reporter in a press conference.”
What is the Truth
In reality, Prime Minister addressed a similar joint press conference, way back in 2015, when Barack Obama was the President of the United States. The latter was the chief guest during India’s 65th Republic Day parade.
A day prior to that event i.e. January 25, 2015, PM Modi and Barack Obama addressed a joint press conference at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. During that time, the Indian Prime Minister responded to questions asked by the press.
It should also be mentioned that PM Modi has given one-on-one interviews to several news channels during the last 9 years. All journalists have attested to the fact that the Indian Prime Minister did not seek questions in advance.
On Wednesday (June 21), American author Max Abrahms applauded PM Modi for not putting any limitations on the questions that can be posed to him.
“I came away from the Modi meeting truly impressed. We weren’t told in advance any limitations on what could be said. He allowed everyone to tell him or ask him anything. He listened carefully & responded seriously to everyone. He sat among us with so much humility in this circle,” he had tweeted.
I came away from the Modi meeting truly impressed. We weren’t told in advance any limitations on what could be said. He allowed everyone to tell him or ask him anything. He listened carefully & responded seriously to everyone. He sat among us with so much humility in this circle. pic.twitter.com/jxdq6CTUTm
— Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) June 21, 2023
While The New York Times and ABC News had been trying to build a false narrative about PM Modi evading the press since 2014, he has been upfront in answering ‘malicious’ questions that have been posed to him.
When a Pakistani-origin journalist tried to rake up the issue of ‘minorities’ in India, PM Modi calmly responded, “…We have proven that democracy can deliver and when I talk about deliver, I mean that there is no space for any discrimination based on caste, creed, religion, or gender. When we talk about democracy, if there are no human values or human rights, then it is not a democracy at all.”
