India's vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar has hit out at the BBC and the Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros for comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to Dhankhar, people need to be cautious about the "sinister kind of politics" being practiced to tarnish India's democratic values.
"We have to be extremely careful about the sinister kind of politics that is being practiced from within and outside the country, to tarnish, taint the fair name of our governance, democratic polity and institutions," the Indian vice-president said.
BBC Controversy
In January, the BBC released a documentary casting aspersions on Prime Minister Modi's role as state chief of Gujarat in 2002 when riots broke out after 60 Hindu pilgrims were killed after their train carriage was set alight.
The documentary alleges that Modi deliberately let the violence continue for three days.
The Indian government, however, rejected such claims and stated that the documentary clearly represents a colonial mindset and media bias against India.
The Supreme Court of India has already observed in its verdict that no substantial proof was found against the then-Gujarat chief Modi. In June 2022, the top court dismissed allegations of a "larger conspiracy" made against Modi and 60 senior state officials.
"So in the name of expression can you run down the Supreme Court, can you run down two decades of thorough investigation? This is playing politics the other way around," vice-president Dhankhar said, addressing students after inaugurating the Centre for Innovation at IIT Madras.
Dhankhar added that when people choose to play politics the other way around, "the young minds here and outside are intellectually equipped to challenge them".
Soros' Allegations About PM Modi
Without directly mentioning the billionaire, the Indian vice-president pointed out: "There is one gentleman somewhere using some money power, he has some backers, he has some beneficiaries, he has some fiscal parasites and they talk about our country's democracy."
In February, the Hungarian-American billionaire Soros alleged that Prime Minister Modi “was no democrat”, and claimed that the prime minister was "hand-in-glove" and had a "connection" with Indian industrialist Gautam Adani.
Adani's business empire has been accused of accounting fraud and stock manipulation by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research, an allegation the businessman strongly denied, calling the report a “calculated attack on India”.
"Those who play politics the other way around need to be combated, neutralized and they must face your rational questioning," the Indian vice-president said.
Earlier, the Indian government slammed Soros, saying: "The man who broke the Bank of England, and is dubbed an economic war criminal by the nation, has now pronounced his desire to break Indian democracy."
India's foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, also weighed in, saying that Soros’ comments were typical of a “Euro-Atlantic view” and rejected his accusations.
“There are still people in the world who believe that their definition, their preferences, their point of view must override everything else,” Jaishankar said.