NRI Affairs Correspondent
Indian High Commission in Australia has urged The Australian to refrain from publishing, what they called ‘baseless articles’ in future following a report by the newspaper critical of the Indian government’s response to the management of the Covid-19 crisis.
“Arrogance, hyper-nationalism and bureaucratic incompetence have combined to create a crisis of epic proportions, critics say, as India’s crowd-loving PM basks while citizens literally suffocate,” The Australian had written in a piece titled ‘Modi leads India into viral apocalypse.’
High Commission of India in Canberra has written to the Editor-in-Chief of The Australian urging the publication to publish a rejoinder.
“It is astonishing to see that your respected publication has chosen to reproduce a completely baseless, malicious and slanderous article without bothering to check the facts of the case with any authorities in the Government of India,” reads the letter signed by Deputy High Commissioner P S Karthigeyan.
It states, “It appears the report has been written only with the sole objective of undermining the universally acclaimed approach taken by the Government of India to fight against the deadly global pandemic, at this decisive moment.”
Mr Karthigeyan has claimed in his letter that ‘all possible measures are being on a war footing by authorities in India’ after the recent surge in infections.
The Australian has mentioned that political rallies by the Prime Minister of India during his election campaign in West Bengal and Kumbh fair in Allahabad, where millions of people gathered to take a dip in the holy rivers, as some of the major causes for the sudden surge in infections in India.
Indian High Commission has found this mention of PM Modi and Kumbh inappropriate.
“While our scientific community is still looking at possible reasons for the sudden surge in infections, including on the role of an infectious new strain that came from outside India, the article has strangely rushed to blame the surge on the restricted elections campaign by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and on religious gathering,” reads the letter to The Australian.
NRI Affairs has approached The Australian for a comment, and the response is awaited.
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