On Saturday, 12th August 2023, the X (formerly Twitter) handle of Newsclick was suspended by X authorities. This decision came days after it was revealed that Newsclick was funded by China to spread pro-China and anti-India propaganda.
The pro-China portal, Newsclick, exchanged communications with the controversial US millionaire Neville Roy Singham, who is on the payroll of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), to peddle a Chinese narrative in India.
Although the allegation that Newsclick received unaccounted money from foreign sources and was indulging in financial irregularities among other criminalities was unearthed after ED raids on the news portal, the issue recently came back to the limelight after an expose by the New York Times.
On Saturday (August 5), The New York Times published a detailed article, revealing the ties of an American businessman with the Chinese government and his financial support to NewsClick.
According to the US-based newspaper, a millionaire named Neville Roy Singham is funding several news publications across the world (including India) to peddle Chinese propaganda.
“In New Delhi, corporate filings show, Mr Singham’s network financed a news site, NewsClick, that sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points. China’s history continues to inspire the working classes, one video said,” noted The New York Times.
Earlier, on February 9, 2021, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the home of NewsClick founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha.
According to the sources in ED, NewsClick had received ₹10 crores under Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from an American company. Interestingly, its founder Purkayastha had no idea why the American company had transferred the money to his company’s account. He could not give any proof of work that he had done for the particular company.
On Monday (August 7), BJP MP Nishikant Dubey raised the issue of Chinese financing of the leftist propaganda news outlet, NewsClick, in the Indian Parliament. He spoke about the recent revelations made by the American newspaper The New York Times.
While citing the findings of the report in the Lok Sabha, Dubey said, “Chinese goods are being sold at Rahul Gandhi’s nafrat ki dukaan (hate shop)…The New York Times has published an interesting report…About ₹38 crores have been received by organisations such as NewsClick.”
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey raises the issue of Chinese financing of leftist propaganda outlet #Newsclick in Parliament, names Abhisar Sharma, Swati Chaturvedi and Rohini Singh pic.twitter.com/SDQxdLwunH
— OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) August 7, 2023
“The report by the newspaper also reiterated the findings of the Enforcement Directorate…NewsClick is a part of the anti-India, tukde tukde gang. (Prabir) Purkayastha is the owner,” he stated.
The BJP leader said that funds accumulated by the NewsClick owner were routed to Maoists, Naxalites and propaganda artists such as (Abhisar) Sharma, Rohini Singh and Swati Chaturvedi. He added that the Chinese government is also spending money to create an anti-India narrative.
Nishikant Dubey also exposed the ties of the Congress Party with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He accused the grand old party of being in talks with China during the infamous 2017 Dokhlam standoff.
