The international media loves to paint Bharat dark. With elections barely a couple of days away, western media is running editorials claiming Bharat’s democracy is in danger. Usually, the mainstream Bhartiya media doesn’t comment on the western media coverage of Bharat. But the trend seems to be changing. The Times of India recently published an article titled “Western Media questions Indian democracy in string of op-eds on Lok Sabha elections”. The article talks about how opinion pieces on the Bhartiya elections appearing in the western press highlight PM Modi’s “dangerous Hindutva ideology” and his “stifling of the opposition”, thus suggesting that democracy in Bharat is in danger.
Going by western media’s obsession with calling the BJP government a “Hindutva majoritarian” one that oppresses minorities, there is nothing new or shocking about such coverage. What is new and surprising though is that Bharat at last, seems to be getting a bit of a fair deal from western media.
Prime Minister Modi’s recent interview with New York-based Newsweek magazine has become the talk of the world. The Newsweek interview was conducted by the renowned magazine’s global editor-in-chief Nancy Cooper, CEO Dev Pragad, and Editorial Director ( Asia ) Danish Manzoor Bhat. With the exclusive interview, PM Modi becomes the second Bhartiya Prime Minister to be featured on the cover of a prestigious global magazine after Indira Gandhi.
Not that Bharat seeks validation from the west on every point. Far from it. But the interview is significant from the perspective of Bharat getting a mainstream global media platform to counter the allegations spun routinely by the global woke media factory.
Newsweek has run two pieces regarding this. One is an edited version of the interview, and another is an opinion piece by Danish Manzoor Bhat, based on the interview. The woke lobby is disgruntled seeing the interview. Media publication The Wire has already carried a piece questioning the credibility of Danish Manzoor Bhat and “exposing” his apparent proximity with PM Modi.
“Newsweek’s Modi ‘Interview’ Has No Questions; J & K PR Dept Had Celebrated Interviewer”, reads The Wire headline. The write-up takes recourse to the tried and tested tactic of woke leftists – shame thy rivals by attacking them and levying allegations against their integrity. The article claims that “Just a few days before this ‘interview’ was published’, the department of publicity and PR, of the union territory of J & K, had put up an Instagram post hailing the interviewer, Danish Manzoor Bhat”.
Edward Luce, Associate Editor Financial Times and US-based writer/columnist also shares his bit of anti-Modi rattles through his X account. “This isn’t an interview. It’s stenography”, he emphatically declares. The Bhartiya wokes, in perennial adulation of any “foreign intellectual” who peddles anti-Bharat discourse, are quick to highlight Luce’s comments to prove their point.
“Huge unintentional comedy here. Rather than see the simple answer – that Newsweek gave an extended PR release to Modi and that many pointed this out – he plunges down a George Soros conspiracy rabbit hole. As I’ve said before, the Indian right has conscious affinity with Trumpism, including importing its tropes”, he further opines through X.
It would perhaps be better for the “esteemed columnists of the US media to focus more on affairs back home rather than vent out their frustration at an interview given by the leader of the world’s biggest democracy. It would perhaps do them good to focus on how many interviews US President Joe Biden has given to the international media. How many “tough questions” has Biden answered regarding the domestic political affairs of the US and its myriad misadventures abroad? It’s incredible the level of delusion that the so-called western intellectuals harbor – that they think the leader of a non-western country has to be answerable to them for an interview he gave to a western publication. The joke then is very much on these “western intellectuals” and not PM Modi.
The interview includes PM Modi’s responses on a range of issues from the upcoming elections, concerns regarding Bhartiya democracy and the free press as voiced by the critics, Bharat’s development trajectory, the country’s equation with China, the PM’s response to concerns regarding inappropriate treatment of minorities in Bharat, etc. The interview essentially covers ample controversial ground. It includes the PM’s candid responses to western concerns regarding the free press, the status of democracy, and apparent discrimination against minorities, criticism of ending Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, the Construction of the Ayodhya Ram Temple, etc.
Much of woke criticism against PM Modi’s interview is based on the use of subs instead of questions in the published version of the interview. This is being talked about as some kind of journalistic travesty, that it’s a joke of an interview where the interviewee is not even being asked specific questions but merely reading scripted responses to certain points. In all fairness, the criticism doesn’t make much sense. Had it been an out-and-out adulatory interview with PM Modi talking only about Bharat’s development trajectory and not referring to any of the western concerns vis-à-vis Bharat, the criticism could have been legit. But like I emphasized, the PM gives candid responses to all the controversial issues. He also reportedly had a 90-minute interaction with the Newsweek team following the written interview. Maybe, specific questions were asked in that interaction.
The point is the anti-Bharat lobby is merely looking for excuses to denigrate Bharat and its Prime Minister. Even if one agrees for a moment that the interview could have been scripted, is that a crime? How many freewheeling interviews have you seen of heads of states? How many political leaders even risk giving interviews to foreign media outlets before elections, considering the scope for political damage in case the interview is taken out of context and distorted?
The point is the Bhartiya Prime Minister took all those risks and gave a decent interview to Newsweek. But the woke leftist lobby is so full of hatred and biases against PM Modi that they can’t digest the fact that a well-known western media outlet gives space to his views. It’s one of those rare times when PM Modi gets a global media platform to tell his side of the story and put forth his case. Mostly, the western media is full of ridiculously judgmental opinion pieces labeling the Bhartiya Prime Minister guilty without evidence and even a trial. Thus, the anti-Bharat lobby is clearly miffed that their anti-Modi narrative stands threatened and exposed. They perhaps fear the possibility of more western media outlets doing balanced interviews with the Bhartiya Prime Minister rather than labeling him a Hindu majoritarian fascist without any rhyme or reason.
As I mentioned at the beginning of my piece, Newsweek carries an entire package of writeups based on PM Modi’s interview. One is an edited version of his interview, and the other is an opinion piece written by Danish Manzoor Bhat, based on the interview. The interview is somewhat critical of PM Modi and repeats some of the typical western allegations against him. But it does try to balance things out by putting forth his side. So it’s not as if the Newsweek is all adulation for PM Modi and Bhartiya democracy. Had the interview been scripted, one wouldn’t have seen the critical opinion piece penned down by Danish Manzoor Bhat appear alongside the interview. But it did and that is proof enough that the interview was far from scripted.
“Modi’s campaign slogan calls for inclusive progress, yet many religious minorities feel excluded by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Partly because of these contradictions, Modi has a contentious relationship with the media and gives interviews rarely. India has tumbled on the World Press Freedom Index under Modi. And the Prime Minister sees himself as a target of hostile coverage by journalists who do not accept that India is both less liberal in ways that are important to the West and much better governed than at any time in its recent history”, says the opinion piece based on PM Modi’s interview. This certainly seems like a far cry from the PR scripted version wokes have been crying about!
The point I am trying to make is that the opinion piece is quite critical of the interview itself and gives its spin to the responses given by PM Modi. However, it does give ample space to the Bhartiya Prime Minister to put forth his case and the overall tone is still refreshingly different from the usual extremely biased and prejudiced stuff that’s routinely written on issues concerning PM Modi and the Bharat in western media. That’s precisely why the wokes are miffed at the interview.
In the interview, PM Modi gives rather detailed responses to Newsweek’s questions on different issues. On the issue of criticism of ending Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, PM Modi said, “I would encourage you to visit Jammu and Kashmir to witness firsthand the sweeping positive changes happening on ( the ) ground. Do not go by what I or others tell you. I went to Jammu and Kashmir just last month. For the first time, people have a new hope in their lives. The process of development, good governance and empowerment of the people is to be seen to be believed”.
On the significance of Ayodhya Ram Mandir, PM Modi said, “ The name of Shri Ram is imprinted on our national consciousness. His life has set the contours of thoughts and values in our civilization. His name echoes across the length and breadth of our sacred land. Therefore, during the 11-day special ritual I observed, I made a pilgrimage to the places that carry the footprints of Shri Ram. My journey that took me to various corners of the country showed the revered place Shri Ram holds within each of us”.
Perhaps, it’s best to conclude the writeup with these concluding lines of PM Modi in the interview he gave to Newsweek: “I feel negativity has a low shelf life. One needs to constantly churn out negativity for it to remain in people’s minds. On the other hand, positivity is perennial. So, Mann ki Baat is a medium for me to gain positively from society and amplify it”.
