‘Mischievous, propaganda’: Anurag Thakur slams New York Times article on Kashmir press freedom
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday slammed the New York Times over an opinion piece on freedom of press in Kashmir and said.
The newspaper had “dropped all pretensions of neutrality” while publishing anything about India.
“NYT’s so-called opinion piece on freedom of press in Kashmir is mischievous and fictitious, published with a sole motive to spread propaganda about India and its democratic institutions and values,” Thakur, the information and broadcasting minister, tweeted.
The NYT opinion piece had criticised the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “repressive media policies”, “intimidation of Kashmir media outlets” and creating an “information vacuum” in Jammu and Kashmir.
“If Modi succeeds in introducing the Kashmir model of information control to the rest of the country, it won’t be just press freedom that is at risk, but Indian democracy itself,” the NYT piece read.
Responding to the NYT article, Anurag Thakur said the lies spread by the newspaper and other like-minded foreign media about India and PM Modi would not last long.
“Some foreign media nourishing a grudge against India and our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have long been systematically trying to peddle lies about our democracy and pleuritic society. Freedom of Press in India is as sacrosanct as other fundamental rights,” Anurag Thakur said.
“Democracy in India and we the people are very mature and we don’t need to learn grammar of democracy from such an agenda-driven media. Blatant lies spread by the NYT about press freedom in Kashmir are condemnable. Indians will not allow such mindsets to run their decisive agenda on Indian soil,” Thakur added.
Sharing Anurag Thakur’s tweet, BJP’s IT department head Amit Malviya said, “Foreign media, with their jaundiced view of India, no longer either have the credibility or the heft to comment on India’s internal matters or, for that matter, its achievements.”