COVID-19 disaster: Govt. issues rejoinder to Australian paper for scathing article
The Australian newspaper reproduced an article that portrayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a poor gentle, accusing him of ‘leading India’ right into a ‘viral apocalypse’.
Facing a barrage of criticism from various worldwide newspapers for its dealing with of the coronavirus disaster, the federal government hit out at The Australian newspaper for reproducing an article that portrayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a poor gentle, accusing him of “leading India” right into a “viral apocalypse”.
In a letter addressed to the Editor of the Australian newspaper Christian Dore, the Indian High Commission in Canberra mentioned that the article sought to “undermine” the Modi authorities for its strategy to the pandemic, which the federal government mentioned had been “universally acclaimed”.
“It is astonishing to see that your respected publication has chosen to reproduce a baseless malicious and slanderous article without bothering to check the facts of the case with any authorities in the Government of India,” mentioned the rejoinder, signed by India’s Deputy High Commissioner, who claimed that final yr’s lockdown, the continuing vaccination drive, an upgradation in diagnostics and remedy services, in addition to India’s “Vaccine Maitri” initiative, the place it exported 66 million vaccines to 80 international locations (now 95 international locations), have been counters to the article’s assertions.
The High Commission additionally mentioned that it was unfair to blame the present coronavirus surge, that has seen new instances in India rise to file ranges, on what it referred to as a “restricted” election marketing campaign by Mr. Modi, and “one religious gathering”, referring to the organisation of the Kumbh Mela at Haridwar in April that noticed hundreds of thousands of devotees collect over the previous month on the Ganga.
It is unclear why the federal government selected to reply to the article in Canberra, provided that it had been reproduced from the unique article in The Sunday Times, within the U.K. beforehand, and is without doubt one of the a number of scathing columns written internationally concerning the authorities’s response. On Monday, The Sydney Morning Herald additionally printed a chunk, written by the previous High Commissioner to India and board member of the Australia India institute John McCarthy that mentioned that Mr. Modi’s authorities “has not distinguished itself”, by permitting the Kumbh Mela and going forward with large rallies because the coronavirus pandemic unfold.
“Demonstrating both the government’s desperation and its regrettable inclination towards autocracy, over the weekend it banned on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, social media posts critical of its handling of the pandemic,” he added, referring to the Ministry of Information Technology’s reported requests for social media posts, principally blaming the pandemic on misgovernance, and exhibiting mass cremations, to be taken down. Other main dailies together with The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, and Financial Times have additionally carried comparable items.