Another hate-filled article in the Guardian and my response was sent to the journalist and the editor of the Guardian as well as the Indian High Commissioner.
In the Guardian (31 December 2023) an article by their correspondent Hannah Elis Peterson falls to a new low in journalism as she desperately tries to malign PM Modi and the BJP.
She acknowledges to her chagrin the devastating, heart-rending, apocalypse reality that Modi will win the 2024 general election. She sheds tears that the popularity of Modi and his Hindu nationalist agenda has already led to widespread persecution of Muslims. If it is so bad now what will happen when Modi wins another term she asks inconsolably. Modi she laments has muzzled critical media (except the Guardian), eroded the independent judiciary and jailed political opponents. In preparations for the coming elections, Hannah claims that the Modi government will use Government officers to promote Modi and even the armed forces. These claims are an insult to the fiercely independent judiciary and the election commission of India. To add to her immense pain Hannah mentions the imminent opening of the Ram Mandir as a further push of the Hindu resurgence. And her final throw of the dice is the question of the precious human rights under the next BJP government.
She brings in Ashutosh Varshney director of the Centre of Contemporary South Asia at Brown University, he claims Muslim rights will come under further attack, and religious communal rhetoric will increase.
It is no use telling people like Hannah of the unprecedented progress the nation has made under Modi. It is no use telling them of the international standing of Modi. The Guardian, New York Times, the Human rights and their ilk can tear their hair out, today’s India is in no mood to take lessons from institutions that made their money on the slave trade. Gone are the days when India took lectures from agenda-driven, biased vested interests.
