Criticizing the Western media for “negative” coverage of the Indian elections, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said countries that “have to go to court to decide the election results” are giving “gyan” in conducting the surveys, ANI reported. Taking a swipe, he said that Western countries “feel” that they have influenced the world for the past 200 years, so they are not able to give up their “old habits so easily.” The EAM was speaking at an interaction after the launch of the Bengali edition of his book “Why Bharat Matters” in Kolkata on Tuesday.
“They (Western countries) want to influence us because many of these countries feel that they have influenced this world for the last 70 or 80 years… Western countries actually feel that they influenced the world for the last 200 years. How do they do it? “Someone who has been in that position is expected to give up those old habits so easily,” the EAM said at the event, according to the report.
He said the Western media wants a certain “class of people” to rule the country and feel “disturbed” when the Indian electorate does not feel the same. “Why are these newspapers so negative about India? Because they see an India that in some sense doesn’t fit their image of what India should be like. They want people, ideology or a way of life… they want that kind” . of people to rule this country, and they feel disturbed when the Indian population feels otherwise,” Jaishankar said.
He also emphasized that Western media sometimes “openly endorse candidates and political parties.” “In some cases, the Western media has openly supported candidates and political parties, they do not hide their preference. They are very intelligent, someone is playing this game of domination for 300 years, they learn a lot, anubhavi log hain, chatur log hain ( They are experienced and intelligent people,” said the EAM.
Calling this a “mind game”, Jaishankar said: “They (newspapers) will damage your reputation, someone will take out an index and put you on that…Countries that have to go to court to decide the outcome of their elections.” . “We are being torn about how to conduct the elections. This is the mind game that is going on in the world,” he added.
Furthermore, he appreciated the turnout in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections despite the extreme heat. Jaishankar said, “Even in this election, I am looking at the comments. In this country, even in the hottest summer, look at the percentage of people who come to vote.”
Earlier too, Jaishankar criticized the Western media for its negative image of Indian democracy. “I get a lot of these noises from the Western press and if they criticize our democracy, it is not because they lack information. It is because they think they are also political actors in our elections,” he said at a forum of nationalist parties. thinkers in Hyderabad in April. Citing an article that questioned the timing of the Indian elections during the heat wave, Jaishankar said: “Now I read that article and I wanted to say, listen, in that heat, my lowest turnout is higher than the highest turnout in the best race “.