The Union Home Ministry has issued a notice to French journalist Vanessa Dougnac asking why her Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card should not be withdrawn. The notice has reportedly been issued over her “malicious” work which has created a “biased negative perception” of India and over alleged violation of visa rules.
Vanessa Dougnac currently resides in India. She is married to an Indian and has been living here for 22 years. She has been given a deadline of 15-days due to end 2nd February for a response failing which she could lose her OCI status and would have to leave the country and apply for a visa to return.
Reports quote the FRRO notice served to Dougnac, which states that she has been “undertaking journalistic activities without any special permission as required under Citizenship Act 1955 and rules/regulations issued thereunder”.
The Foreigners Registration Office (FRRO) notice of the MHA was issued to her on 18th January.
As per the notice, Dougnac’s reportage was “malicious and critical in manner that they create biased negative perception about India”.
It also accused her work’s ability to “provoke disorder and disturb peace in certain sections of the society.”
Vanessa Dougnac’s work permit was cancelled in October 2022 and has not been reporting since then at least within India. She has been reporting from Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal largely for French Newspaper Le Croix (The Cross), which is known for spreading fake news.
The Print quoting government sources said that Le Croix has published reports authored by Dougnac which have been factually wrong. This has been taken up by the concerned department, as per Print report.
Moreover, the sources have said that Dougnac is in “serious violation” of her visa rules despite the same communicated to her repeatedly.
If Dougnac does not respond to the FRRO notice, it will reportedly be presumed that she has “nothing to say in the matter and appropriate legal action under the Citizenship Act 1955 shall be taken by the competent authority without any further notice,” as per the notice.
The Print has quoted sources who claim that Dougnac is working with a team of lawyers to issue a timely reply.
Fake news peddler Ashok Swain has also tweeted on this development crying victim. Taking to X, the troll wrote, “They started it with me 4 years ago – Now it has become a trend.” Notably, Ashok Swain’s X account is withheld in India and his OCI card was cancelled in 2022.
A journalist with Financial Times, John Reed, who has often written bitterly about the majority-elected Narendra Modi government, also decried the notice issued to Dougnac. “French journalist issued notice for withdrawal of OCI card over ‘malicious’ reporting, visa violations. Vanessa Dougnac has been in #India for 22 years,” he whined.
French journalist issued notice for withdrawal of OCI card over ‘malicious’ reporting, visa violations. Vanessa Dougnac has been in #India for 22 years. #JournalismIsNotACrime https://t.co/MLgWYJPVfe via @theprintindia
— John Reed जॉन रीड (@JohnReedwrites) January 23, 2024
Heaps of anti-India, anti-Hindu reporting by Vanessa Dougnac
Vanessa Dougnac has extensively authored reports on India’s COVID-19 situation, particularly in the period before the cancellation of her visa.
All of Dougnac’s reports on India’s COVID-19 were heavily sensationalised adding to the uncertainty, fear, loss and pain of Indians.
Dougnac’s reports added to such narrative of the ecosystem that was set on damaging India’s global image even as the government took daily measures followed by press briefings to counter fake news and prevent collateral damage that may result out of the then prevailing situation.
In a French news website, a report published under Vanessa Dougnac’s name was titled “The Ganges, ghost cemetery of health carnage” – a title that shamelessly insults the revered Mother Ganga (river). She also used the word “illegal cemetery” for the Holy River saying that “Ganges symbolizes the ravages of the epidemic out of control.”
Here’s how she described the largest Indian state in this report: “The epicenter of social and political violence in India, the rural state of Uttar Pradesh has been hit hard.”
She quotes a so-called political scientist in this report, Gilles Verniers, who is thoroughly and motivated anti-Indian. Naturally, Dougnac has found voices that will target the UP government in this report. She goes onto identify the CM’s religion and identity and links him to PM Modi to malign them both.
A 4-minute 7-second-long video report filed by Dougnac on Covid-19 was published by the French media portal Le Temp. The highly sensationalised video was enough to bring down the morale of any number of Indians who would have watched it.
Hôpitaux débordés, pénurie d'oxygène, crématoriums à ciel ouvert: l’#épidémie est hors de contrôle. Comment en est-on arrivé là? Éclairage avec notre correspondante en #Inde, @vanessadougnac pic.twitter.com/nYeexSikcI
— Le Temps (@LeTemps) April 29, 2021
The video showed death and more death, as if to rub it in our faces when hope was most needed. This wasn’t reporting, this was exploiting the news that had become the life of many Indians.
Dougnac also published a report decrying the arrest of a staunch India-hater and anti-Hindu Disha Ravi. This was published in La Croix, the newspaper/website that also maligned India’s global image during the pandemic by publishing fake news about PM Modi and the country. Le Croix has also published anti-Semitic reports in the past.
"L’arrestation est perçue comme une stratégie visant à couper la sympathie accordée aux agriculteurs. « Face au soudain intérêt international, le gouvernement est inquiet, estime la commentatrice politique Arati Jerath »" @vanessadougnac https://t.co/Mp4XanytYT
— Info Solidarité Inde (@IndeInfo) February 19, 2021
Disha Ravi, a self-proclaimed climate change activist for the want of fame, was arrested after the toolkit leaked by brattish environmentalist Greta Thunberg showed her involvement in manufacturing the notorious farmers’ protests which led to casualties.
Dougnac’s report on her arrest is titled, “India: the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi, a “chilling message to youth”.” Similar such reports have been published by Dougnac in La Croix on the Farmers’ Protests too, all maligning India and Hindus.
Vanessa Dougnac has targeted Hindus through her reports on Love Jihad in Le Croix. One such report is titled “The ‘Love Jihad, ghost crusade of Hindu nationalists”.
A full-blown Hindu bashing, targeting and maligning followed in this report without actual proof to support Dougnac’s basic argument that love jihad is a conspiracy theory. The report takes one case of an inter-religious marriage and follows it with anti-Hindu holier-than-thou rant.
On Kashmir, Dougnac believes that it was the temporary internet ban that had “stifled” the valley and not terrorism, largely Pakistan-sponsored.
Going by the tone of her report, she finds the revocation of Article 370 abrupt and wrong. She quotes Pakistan-sympathisers in this report.
A post from 2019 on X shows the malafide intentions of the likes of Vanessa Dougnac.
An economist Jean-Joseph Boillot wrote on X, formerly Twitter, ““The largest democracy in the world” at #Kashmir under the leadership of PM Modi. Ah, there are fewer demonstrators or journalists than at #HongKong except our correspondent Vanessa Dougnac who brought back these photos for the next Modi-Macron meeting.”
"La plus grande démocratie du monde" au #Kashmir sous la houlette du PM Modi. Ah, il y a moins de manifestants ou de journalistes qu'à #HongKong sauf notre correspondante Vanessa Dougnac qui a ramené ces photos pour la prochaine rencontre Modi-Macron -> https://t.co/YTBIlzCaMK pic.twitter.com/n9F0B4UGE1
— Jean-Joseph Boillot (@jjboillot) August 24, 2019
Vanessa Dougnac’s anti-Hindu face exposes itself completely when she begins a report on the French people residing in India by maligning a Hindu religious ritual.
Dougnac has also used the chilling rape and murder of Nirbhaya to malign Indian men altogether by inciting stereotypes using leftist dictionary words like “patriarchal”. This after the woman herself is married to an Indian and been living amongst Indians.
Fed and fattened by UPA
Vanessa Dougnac has been a South Asia correspondent for the French news magazine Le Point. She arrived in India in 1998 reportedly as a backpacker.
She has reportedly researched on the Ambanis and on Gujarat in the past. She has been a member of the Indian Women’s Press Corps.
As per a report dated 2010, Dougnac had said that visas are non-issue for her and that she had a person of Indian Origin (PIO) card since she was married to an Indian.
In this report, she was quoted saying, “Nobody asks me anything. And I can actually work on my stories instead of doing the rounds of government offices.”
