Ever since the Modi government rode to power in 2014, the liberal international media have acted in a biased and vindictive manner against India. Despite India’s increasing soft power, the international media continues to act vindictively not just against India but also all the nationalistic leaders like Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro. The New York Times has effectively become Pakistan government’s propaganda outlet with Imran Khan even visiting its office in New York.
The subsequent international media blackout of the historic Namaste Trump meet is a further testament to this fact. In what can be seen as an absolute disregard to the journalistic ethos and the pursuit of truth, Wall Street Journal (WSJ) misquoted slain IB Officer Ankit Sharma’s brother to present a distorted picture of how Sharma was brutally murdered by radical Hindus.
According to Prasar Bharti, multiple police complaints have been filed against Wall Street Journal for spreading “fake news” of a Jai Shri Ram-chanting mob killing Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma in Delhi’s Chand Bagh.
The cyber complaint with the Maharashtra police has been filed by activist group Legal Rights Observatory which has demanded that the false claims be immediately withdrawn with an apology. The complaints were submitted to the Delhi police and the Maharashtra police on 28 February. In a blatant case of biased and false reporting the publication had quoted in its report titled, “India’s Ruling Party, Government Slammed Over Delhi Violence” Ankit Sharma’s brother as, “they came armed with stones, rods, knives and even swords; they shouted Jai Shri Ram; some even wore helmets”. Ankit Sharma’s brother Ankur while speaking with Prasar Bharti denied that he ever gave such a statement, “I never gave such a statement to Wall Street Journal. This is a ploy to defame my brother and my family. Wall Street Journal is lying”.
It has been a long unfulfilled fantasy of liberals to associate the chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ with violence as the publication tries to whitewash the murder of Ankit Sharma by Tahir Hussain and his goons.
Contrary to the publication’s claims, based on testimonies of a local and several reports, AAP leader and Corporator Mohammed Tahir Hussain has been accused of being involved in this brutal crime. It has been alleged that guns were being fired from the rooftop of his house and petrol bombs were also being thrown. Ankit Sharma was a resident of the area and his family has also accused Tahir Hussain. They say, “Guns were shot continuously from the AAP leader’s home. They also had swords and petrol bombs. His boys dragged Ankit. Ankit was trying to rescue people trapped by a mob. They dragged Ankit and killed him.”
Locals from the area also saw that Ankit Sharma and three others were dragged into Tahir Hussain’s house. While the fate of two others is not yet confirmed, Ankit’s mortal remains were found- riddled with stabbing injuries and one bullet wound. However, Ankit Sharma’s brother claims that the bodies of two others have also been found, while one remains missing.
Not just the Wall Street Journal, even the usual suspects like the New York Times and the Guardian looked to cash in on the Delhi riots by their blatantly biased reporting. The Guardian did a venomous, almost celebratory report titled, ‘Anti-Muslim violence in Delhi serves Modi well‘ which said, “The riots have been driven by a ruling party intent on painting its largely peaceful opponents as seditious sectarians” and went on to claim that “In news reports it is always “violent members of one religious community” attacking violent members of another.”
A New York Times (NYT) story (read ‘pulp fiction’) about the Delhi riots is particularly unsettling. NYT has gone a step further in the attribution of an anti-Muslim template to the riots. Taking a cue from the Indian mainstream media outlets, the NYT goes on to pin the entire blame on BJP leader, Kapil Mishra.
“A local Hindu politician told the police to evict a group of Muslim protesters or he and his men would. Now, 25 have died in some of the worst violence in years.”
Referring to him as “a local politician with India’s leading Hindu nationalist party“. Alluding to his “Upper Caste Hindu” identity, NYT projects him as a turncoat from India’s most “progressive political organisations”- the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). It is not a matter of great surprise that the NYT doesn’t refer to how a Corporator from the same “progressive” political organisation faces allegations of being involved in the murder of an Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer.
However, there is no doubt that amongst all the misleading reports, WSJ has to be the most vicious. The government must take stern action against such publications who earn their bread and butter by constantly running anti-India propaganda.