The anti-India reports, articles, and briefs appearing in the Western media are offensive and unobjective and have exposed their hidden agenda against the world's most vibrant and thriving democracy, a geopolitical pundit has said.
The comments of Dr. Abhinav Pandya, who is the founder and CEO of the Usanas Foundation, a geopolitical and security affairs think tank based in Udaipur city of Rajasthan state, came in the aftermath of a recent report published by the Government of India which found that the Muslim population in the South Asian nation grew at a much faster pace than Hindus and other religious groups.
"The share of the majority Hindu population decreased by 7.82 percent between 1950 and 2015 (from 84.68 percent to 78.06 percent). The share of Muslim population in 1950 was 9.84 percent and increased to 14.09 percent in 2015 - a 43.15 percent increase in their share," the working paper prepared by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) said.
This seemed to bust the Western media's fake narrative about the persecution of minorities in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's premiership.
Previously, the Western press raised doubts about the fairness of the ongoing general elections in the world's largest democratic state.
While Bloomberg and Reuters claimed that deepfake videos were being used to meddle in India's elections, the Washington Post accused New Delhi of having a role in a failed attempt to assassinate a Khalistani terrorist on American soil.
On the other hand, The Guardian alleged India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of carrying out extra-judicial killings in Pakistan.
One must note that all these allegations are not backed by any kind of substantial evidence against India.
Against this backdrop, Pandya stressed that Western media's biased reporting against India is a manifestation of their much larger anti-India agenda.
West Weaponizing Liberal Values, Democracy, and Free Speech
He explained that the West weaponizes these standards of democracy, free speech, and liberal values, to put pressure on non-compliant countries or the nations that guard their strategic autonomy in foreign and domestic policy.
"For example, the West exercised huge pressure on India to force it to support anti-Russia sanctions and condemn Russia on the issue of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, India fiercely guarded its strategic autonomy and refused to support Western sanctions. Now, all these anti-India reports and propaganda over issues like minority rights, and democratic backsliding, are basically to put pressure on India," the international relations expert told Sputnik India on Friday.
The West also aims to cultivate India as a major bulwark against China by adopting a more belligerent attitude towards Beijing which will entrap India in the Western orbit, he added.
But India prefers a realistic and pragmatic approach and does not signal that it has completely switched over to the West. To coerce India, the Western media releases such anti-India propaganda, Pandya suggested.
India's Backing For a Multipolar World Hasn't Gone Well With Western Nations
"Under PM Modi's leadership India has made rapid progress in economy, defense, and technology and emerged as a geopolitical heavyweight. India believes in a multipolar world and speaks against Western hegemony, which hasn't gone well with the rich states of Europe and Northern America," the think tanker asserted.
Moreover, India is a unique civilizational state and under PM Modi, it has asserted that identity, he observed.
"All this is seen as a big challenge by the West; hence they criticize and pressure India through various frontal organizations like the Open Society Foundation of George Soros and Western publications like the Washington Post, Bloomberg, and The Guardian amongst others," Pandya noted.
He opined that there was a strong trend of India and Hindu bashing in Western universities, think tanks, and media outlets.
Recently, people from all over the world saw massive pro-Palestine protests on the campuses of US universities, leading to harsh actions by law-enforcement agencies against the protestors.
A pro-Palestinian protestor is arrested by Texas State Troopers at the University of Texas
© AFP 2023 Suzanne Cordeiro
Western Press' Reportage: Different Lens For Different Regions
Even so, when India tries to take action against elements that are fomenting unrest in the country, the Western media shows it with a different lens and raises the human rights bogey.
Pandya emphasized that the West applies these double standards, and there are several examples in this regard.
When India crushed anti-India JNU student protests, there was a massive lecturing from the West. When India acted against the farmer agitation, the West came heavily upon New Delhi; however, when Canada was ruthless against its farmers, it was seen in a different light, he pointed out.
"These double standards have exposed the West's hidden and destructive anti-India agenda. They are disturbed by India's rise and independent foreign policy under PM Modi's leadership," Pandya mentioned.
"This also reflects a deep-rooted and subtle form of racism and a superiority complex where the West takes the mantle of a judge sermonizing and preaching India over the issues of democracy, minorities, free speech, etc. The West wants India to toe their line in foreign policy and domestic policy and to do that they put pressure on India through media, think tanks, and other reports," he concluded.