Union Minister and former Chief of Army Staff, General VK Singh has been a prime target for media organisations to take a shot at. The Indian Express, specifically, has made it a sole motive to report absolute falsities about the former army chief, whether it be him organising a purported coup against the UPA government, or now him allegedly admitting that India conducted more frequent incursions into the Chinese side along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Recent statements of the union minister were taken completely out of context, and a sensational report was created out of the same.
On Sunday, VK Singh had replied to a question on the China border row when he was visiting Madurai in Tamil Nadu. “With China our border has never been demarcated. Over a period of time, there have been transgressions where China says this is my perception of the LAC. Similarly, none of you come to know how many times we have transgressed as per our perception. We don’t announce it. Chinese media doesn’t cover it. But let me assure you, if China has transgressed 10 times, we must have done it at least 50 times, as per our perception,” Singh told reporters.
I am more aware of the LAC and the borders.
Suggest do not fall prey to the Chinese propaganda.
Here is my statement on the subject.#GenerallySaying pic.twitter.com/uQOYLMp4fn— Gen VK Singh(MODI KA PARIWAR) (@Gen_VKSingh) February 10, 2021
The Indian Express spun a false narrative, in which it portrayed Gen. VK Singh as saying that India had transgressed the LAC much more frequently than China and its People’s Liberation Army. What was in fact said by the former army chief was in stark contrast to what was reported. This was clarified by the union minister on Twitter, in a statement where he said, “I saw my reported reply to a question in Madurai splashed across social media and the newspapers, wherein I am purported to have said that India has been transgressing the LAC with China, five times to every one ingress of theirs. This distortion could not be further from the truth. I had simply stated the established fact that the borders along the LAC have not been demarcated and until that is done there will always be differing perceptions.”
It must be mentioned that false reporting by a section of Indian media, led by the Indian Express, drew opportunistic statements from China, which claimed with a sense of pride that Gen. VK Singh’s remarks were a testament to the fact that it is in fact India which has transgressed into Chinese territory, and not the other way round. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said “India’s transgressions” were the root cause of tensions at the de-facto border between the two countries. VK Singh added, “This is an unwitting confession by the Indian side. For a long time, the Indian side has conducted frequent acts of trespass in the border area in an attempt to encroach on China’s territory and constantly created disputes and frictions, which is the root cause of the tensions at the China-India border.”
On the issue of misreporting by Indian news outlets giving the Chinese a reason to lie about the realities of their aggression, General VK Singh said, “In the race to create sensational headlines, newspaper editors must verify what was said and what is reported. The distortion of my statement/ reply has needlessly given the Chinese a platform to try and cover their own aggressive tracks and shift the blame on India… I wish to place on record that this report is a malicious distortion and has nothing to do with what was actually said.”
At a time when media is expected to act responsibly and not give the enemy an opportunity to falsely shift blame upon India, a section of the country’s media is doing exactly that, in their historical hatred for Gen. VK Singh. It is high time that such media is identified and taken to task immediately for compromising national security.