Among the Western media with an anti-Bharat bias, New York Times (NYT) & British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) are without doubt the leaders of the pack. Regular consumers of these two media outlets (one in print and the other in TV/radio) would observe a consistent pattern with regards to coverage of Bharat. Doom & gloom, bleak economic prospects, oppressive and troubled society – these are the themes which dominates NYT & BBC coverage of Bharat. And the negativity becomes especially pronounced whenever a BJP Government is in power at the centre.

Most Western media has a typical view of Bharat as an exotic, strange land, but media outlets with a left-liberal bias like NYT and UK’s BBC & The Guardian have a visceral dislike for anything and anyone advocating the cause of the Hindu civilization. Hence it is no surprise that their negative rhetoric and Hinduphobia has gone into overdrive since May 2014, when the BJP swept to power in Bharat with a simple majority. At a time when most objective economic commentators are recognizing Bharat as the fastest growing economy and one of the few bright lights in an otherwise bleak global economic scenario, NYT paints a dismal picture –

NYT vs. Reality, on India pic.twitter.com/W7n3omQAaT

— Naren (@narenbalaji) May 31, 2016

A search for “New York Times + India” in Google News, throws the following results –

What a dismal picture! Poor sanitation, excessive coal mining damaging the climate (conveniently forgetting that the West developed their economies and societies through colonial plunder and far worse exploitation of the environment, while Bharat, even at this nascent stage of its development story, is showing far greater commitment to clean energy), pollution, dodgy medicines made in Bharat, caste (the evergreen favorite of Hinduphobes!), rape (notice the relative silence on rape & violence against women in Islamic societies like Pakistan, Saudi etc).

But what appears in NYT is not surprising, given that their story ideas are fed by substandard left-liberal/communist Bharatiya journalists like Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai etc. And eminent ‘intellectuals’ like Ramchandra Guha, Amartya Sen etc are always at hand to give the required sound-byte or interview whenever Hindus need to be put down and ‘shown their place’.

And NYT’s counterpart across the pond i.e. BBC, although much reduced in influence these days, is more brazen about its colonial era game of  divide and rule, in which Hindus are represented as thoroughly communal and casteist creatures –  

Shocking and utterly condemnable headline by @BBCWorld. Totally unacceptable. (courtesy @PerennialCold) pic.twitter.com/vCVT2s28Cb

— Anand Ranganathan (@ARangarajan1972) December 9, 2014

Funny. Whenever discussing the elections the BBC, without exception, calls the BJP a “Hindoo Nationalist” Party. No sobriquet for Congress.

— Anand Ranganathan (@ARangarajan1972) May 15, 2014

Does the BBC call the Conservative Party – whose leader David Cameron wants UK to be a Christian nation – a “Christian Nationalist” Party?

— Anand Ranganathan (@ARangarajan1972) May 15, 2014

But ever since the advent of social media, such outright bias and incompetence is being called out regularly, and even credible voices from bureaucracy & academia are not mincing their words anymore –

If we still don’t understand the deeply internalised (in W) colonial strategy of divide & rule, we never will ?? https://t.co/rsrBrviWNq

— Arvind Virmani (@dravirmani) May 31, 2016

In my pmo days I had to deal with the Stupidity of @nytimes whn it opposed US-India nuke deal. NYT failed, we won! https://t.co/vd9uS0Mf2i

— sanjaya baru (@barugaru) June 5, 2016

Calling out the bigots in the West is an important step in breaking the colonial consciousness which still colors the vision of many Bharatiyas educated under the Macaulayite education system which sadly still prevails in Bharat.