As the grand festival of democracy, the general election commences in India on the 19th of April 2024, the Western media is covering India’s election news with the display of its usual Hinduphobic and anti-Modi rants. The foreign media reports played on the palpable insinuation that somehow Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi’s victory is inevitable and the democracy and the minorities, essentially Muslims are in danger.
In this vein, US-based ABC News’s headline read: “India begins voting in a 6-week election that could give Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi a third term.”
A CBS News report says: “India’s 2024 election kicks off, with major implications for the world’s biggest democracy“
Meanwhile, France24’s headline says: “Hindu nationalist Modi the favourite as India votes in six-week election.”
Reuters on the other hand reported, “Mosque in Hindu holy land at centre of dispute as India votes”
Ram Mandir, a monument of majoritarian violence, Hindu nationalist Modi turning India into “claustrophobic Hindu nation”: NYT suffers a serious meltdown reminiscing 5 years of Modi 2.0
The New York Times went a step in its display of hatred towards Hindus and Narendra Modi published an op-ed authored by one of its Indian sepoy who in his anti-Modi tirade hurled usual ‘Hindu nationalist’ tropes. Asserting that Modi is somehow ‘Hindufying’ the country. The illustration used in the NYT article depicts a Tilak sporting Modi wearing a ‘temple crown’ and carrying a bow and quiver. A sword is also seen in the background. The obvious assertion here is that in all likelihood, Modi’s third term would unleash a more authoritative rule.
The propaganda piece authored by Siddhartha Deb is a meltdown of an average Modi-hater besides being a Hinduphobe. The NYT article laments how a mob of ‘Hindu militants’ illegally razed a mosque in Ayodhya. For obvious reasons, the author did not mention that the grand temple of Lord Ram Lalla was constructed at his rightful birthplace after the Hindu side won the legal battle in the Supreme Court.
The author also accuses the Hindu majority of India of maintaining the facade of a democracy and has so far avoided the overt features of a theocracy, yet has become a Hindu state. Siddhartha Deb also claimed that there is historical proof of Lord Ram’s existence reminding one of Congress’s 2007 court affidavit claiming the same. Another amusing aspect of Deb’s haranguing against the Modi regime is the new parliament, which as per him reduces India’s past to a monochromatic one while the old one reflected India’s ‘syncretic’ history.
Besides having a meltdown over the Modi government fulfilling its 2019 manifesto promises including abrogation of Article 370 and CAA, it also resorted to making misleading claims about the possibility of the Modi government if voted to power bringing NRC jeopardising the citizenship of Indian Muslims. To no surprise, the NYT’s anti-Modi rant also peddled the EVM hacking/manipulation lies. EVMs and VVPAT hacking/tampering have been the most prominent lies peddled by opposition-friendly pen pushers like Andy Mukherjee.
Al Jazeera peddles the mendacious “Minority khatre mein hai” propaganda to spread fear among Indian Muslims and malign India’s image globally
Qatar-owned propaganda news outlet Al Jazeera, notorious for peddling lies and twisting facts to portray Muslims as oppressed victims of the ‘Hindu nationalist’ and ‘authoritarian’ regime, claimed that another term under Narendra Modi’s BJP government could threaten their way of life.
Al Jazeera’s video report titled: “How do Muslims in India feel about the general election?, claimed that “since the Hindu nationalist BJP party has come to power, rights groups say, Muslims have watched their rights to housing, religion and employment erode.” Several Muslims told the propaganda outlet that Muslims have always been neglected, however, they have been subjected to further neglect in the last ten years of Modi’s rule.
The propaganda outlet also brought in the religion of the people illegally encroaching on government land and the demolition action taken by the authorities. In its apparent bid to assert that such illegal encroachers were deliberately targeted by the government due to their Muslim identity. It claimed that the houses of Muslims were demolished without the authorities giving any prior warning. In the video, a meat shop owner named Mohammad Gulab Sheikh is heard saying that the BJP government has closed the meat shops during Navratri, this, however, was not the case in previous non-BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh. While Sheikh claimed that with such decisions, the Muslim community is being targeted, however, the state government did not issue any notification to shut down meat shops belonging to Muslims or anyone during the Navratri festival.
Muslims in India tell Al Jazeera why they are concerned that another term under Narendra Modi's BJP government could threaten their way of life. pic.twitter.com/0T1GsHRFWY
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 19, 2024
Contrary to Al Jazeera’s assertions, the Muslim community under Modi’s rule has been a significant beneficiary of the government schemes and initiatives. The Modi government runs certain minority welfare initiatives like Upgrading the Skill and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development (USTTAD), Hunar Haats, Gharib Nawaz Employment Training Programme, and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) etc.
Moreover, with the saturation coverage approach in their schemes and initiatives, the Modi government has ruled out the scope of discrimination against any religious community in welfare schemes. Be it the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) or providing toilets, water connection or cooking fuel, collateral-free credit or health insurance, the Modi government has not included religion as a criterion in any of its schemes. Thus, there is no question of the BJP government discriminating against Muslims.
In the case of demolition drive against illegal encroachments, as seen in Gujarat and other states, action has been taken against illegal structures irrespective of their religion. If Al Jazeera wants BJP governments to let illegal mazars, mosques or any other religious structure occupy government-owned land or roads and public spaces, to prevent perennially threatened minorities from feeling further then that would not be secularism, but incompetence and appeasement.
Al Jazeera further lamented how Muslims who had 5% representation in the government in 2019 have been reduced to 0% now. This, contrary to the Qatar-owned propaganda outlet’s claim is not due to any religion-specific reasons. Like any political party, the BJP also considers the winnability of a candidate in a constituency more than their religion.
The Guardian hides its discomfiture in the faint hope of anti-BJP ‘undercurrent’
Vilifying the Hindus and projecting the Muslims as persecuted minorities has been the leitmotif of British daily The Guardian’s Lok Sabha election coverage. Authored by Hannah-Ellis Peterson, The Guardian article titled: “Voting begins in India’s election with Modi widely expected to win third term”, says that the BJP-led Modi government is likely to expand its majority, despite ‘undermining’ democracy since it came to power in 2014.
The tone of the article suggests that even though the author is largely convinced that PM Modi will get a third term, she is still hopeful of a miracle that could ‘save democracy’ in India. Parroting the allegations levelled by opposition parties, The Guardian article says that the Modi government has systematically used state machinery to jail political opponents. The propaganda outlet mentioned Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s incarceration in this regard, however, it did not mention that Kejriwal’s arrest in the Delhi liquor scam case was upheld by the court and the Supreme Court recently refused to grant relief to the AAP leader.
Much like NYT’s Siddhartha Deb, Peterson also mentioned the consecration of Ayodhya Ram Mandir and how it contributed to an upsurge in the popularity of an already spectacularly popular Narendra Modi. The Guardian also talked about the Income Tax department freezing Congress’s bank account to assert that the Modi government deliberately did so. However, the action was taken after the department uncovered irregularities in the party’s tax returns.
Associated Press calls Hindu nationalism a ‘fringe ideology’, says a decade of Modi rule mainstreamed it
American news agency Associated Press, which has a history of whitewashing the crimes of Islamists and whose journalists are notorious for mollycoddling Hamas terrorists, has called the ‘Hindu nationalism’ a fringe ideology now mainstreamed under PM Modi’s rule. Besides outlining PM Modi’s Hindu upbringing, the AP article by Krutika Paathi and Sheikh Saaliq furthers the narrative line taken up by the Western media against the Modi government. It said that under PM Modi’s rule, there have been attacks on ‘minorities’ essentially the Muslims, from hate speech to lynchings.
While reporting on the incidents of lynching the Western media has always been selective, it cherry-picks the incidents where the victim happens to be a Muslim and the attacker a Hindu to claim that the ‘majoritarian regime’ and its supporters are targeting Hindus, however, the same media either falls into deep slumber when a Kanhaiyalal or Umesh Kolhe is murdered by Islamists in cold blood, or downplays it.
Foreign media continues to look away from the reality and dismisses Narendra Modi as mere ‘Hindu nationalist’ leader
The foreign media’s coverage of the Lok Sabha elections has been centred around Modi’s Hindu nationalism, so-called divisive politics, oppression of minorities, and suppression of political opposition and media voices. While PM Modi talks of making India a $5 trillion economy, semiconductors, Digital India, Atmanirbhar Bharat, a prominent player in global decision-making, the foreign media wants to project Modi as a ‘Hindu hardliner’.
The intent of overtly emphasising Hindu nationalism is to limit Narendra Modi’s stature as a ‘Hindu nationalist’ leader who retains power by stoking Hindu religious sentiments and polarization, despite the fact that PM Modi has emerged as a global leader with an impact on international politics over the last decade. Whether it is the anti-Modi parties, the left-liberal ecosystem, a major segment of Western media, or the enemies of India in general, they want a weak government and a docile leader at the helm of power in India.
