The recent spate of criticism of the Modi government in the Western media and civil society, which included a two-part documentary by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on the 2002 Gujarat riots and Narendra Modi’s tenure as Prime Minister, is “politics by other means”, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Tuesday.
Speaking to news agency Asian News International, Mr. Jaishankar said non-governmental organisations (NGO) and media outfits critical of the Modi government were not focusing on episodes such as the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and were “playing politics”.
“We are not debating just a documentary or a speech somebody gave in a European city or a newspaper edit somewhere. We are debating actually politics which is being conducted ostensibly as media ... there is a phrase war by other means, there is also politics by other means,” Mr. Jaishankar said. He said that for a decade, a “drip, drip, drip” campaign has been going on to “shape an extremist image of India, of the government and the Prime Minister”.
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Mr. Jaishankar hinted that there was a link between the internal politics of India and the recent criticism of the Mr. Modi that came through Western TV channels and activist investors like George Soros.
Mr. Soros, in a comment in Munich last week, said that the crash of shares prices of Adani Group companies would lead to a “democratic upsurge” in India. He also described Gautam Adani and Mr. Modi as “close allies” with “intertwined” fates. During his Australia visit last weekend, Mr. Jaishankar hit out at the 92-year-old Mr. Soros and described him as “old, rich, opinionated and dangerous”.
Mr. Jaishankar, continuing his criticism of the opponents of Mr. Modi, said, “This is a globalised world. People take their politics abroad. Politics of India does not stop at its borders. Sometimes, politics of India doesn’t even originate in its borders — it comes from outside. Ideas come from outside, agendas come from outside. Otherwise please tell me why suddenly there is a surge of reports and views?”
Mr. Jaishankar did not mention the 2002 riots, but said the critics of Mr. Modi and his government were not shedding light on similar acts of violence that took place earlier.
“Many things happened in Delhi in 1984. Why don’t we see a documentary on that? If that was your concern. This is politics at play by people who do not have the courage to come to the political field. They want to hide under the teflon cover saying that I am an NGO, I am a media organisation, etc. But they are playing politics,” he said.
Dealing with issues from the past, Mr. Jaishankar recollected the career of his late father, strategic affairs expert K. Subrahmanyam, who was appointed Secretary of Defence Production under the Janata government in 1979. He, however, was removed from the post when Indira Gandhi was re-elected as Prime Minister in January 1980.
Mr. Jaishankar said his father did not speak of the episode often, but it “was inside him”. “His career in bureaucracy, actually kind of stalled. After that he never became a Secretary again. He was superseded during the Rajiv Gandhi period. Somebody junior to him became the Cabinet Secretary,” Mr. Jaishankar said.
