Indian Express misrepresents phone call between PM Modi and President Biden on Ukraine and Bangladesh Hindus, insinuates Modi initiated the call

On Monday (26^th August), Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden and discussed views on regional and global issues, particularly the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh and the Ukraine crisis. MEA had also issued a communique about the same, wherein it clearly mentioned that PM Modi had received a call from the President of the U.S.A.

Several media outlets reported on the Modi-Biden conversation, with most presenting the news as it was, clearly indicating that Joe Biden was the one who called PM Narendra Modi. However, the Indian Express managed to tailor its reporting in a way that aligned with its specific political agenda. The media house insinuated that it was Modi who initiated the call to the US President and not the other way around.

The opening paragraph of the meticulously crafted report by the Indian Express on August 26th stated, “Days after returning from Kyiv, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to US President Joe Biden on Monday,” subtly suggesting that Modi had initiated the call to Joe Biden.

While the Indian Express implied that Modi had initiated the call to the US President, the Ministry of External Affairs, in its press release on August 26th, clearly stated that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi received a telephone call from the President of the U.S.A., H.E. Mr Joseph R. Biden.

However, this type of agenda-driven reporting by the Indian Express is not unexpected, considering the tendency of leftist media to distort and sensationalize news to shape public opinion and influence political and social outcomes. In fact, only recently, the Indian Express published an editorial in defence of Somaiya School principal Parveen Shaikh who has come under fire after OpIndia exposed her terror sympathising social media activities.

Interestingly, Indian Express was not the only one that had defended Parveen Shaikh and downplayed her pro-Hamas and anti-Hindu social media activities. As OpIndia reported earlier, left-leaning portal Scroll and Hindustan Times had also attempted to garner sympathy for Shaikh passing off her pro-Hamas leanings as mere political opinion and alleging that ‘Hindutva’ portal OpIndia targeted Shaikh due to her Muslim identity. 

As Modi reveals bringing up plight of Hindus in call with Biden, White House communique makes no mention

Interestingly, the distortion of the conversation between Modi and Biden was not limited to the Indian Express. The US also selectively emphasized certain aspects of the conversation while omitting others, resulting in a skewed portrayal of the events. Although Modi mentioned discussing the plight of Hindus in his X post, the White House communique skipped mentioning the discussion on the Bangladesh crisis completely.

This came days after the White House refused to comment on the plight of the Hindus and other religious minorities in Bangladesh. While responding to a query on atrocities against Hindu Americans and Hindus in Bangladesh, the official White House Spokesperson Jean Pierre said that they are continuing to monitor the situation but they don’t have anything else to add.