Politicians associated with India's federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have said that while the majority of Western media failed to support justice, opposing India's stance, Sputnik India's coverage of the country's Operation Sindoor, this month's counter-terror mission launched to dismantle terror infrastructure in neighbouring Pakistan, was unbiased and based on facts.
"Sputnik handled the coverage of Operation Sindoor with a level of balance that was both strategic and pragmatic. Was it entirely unbiased? No global media outlet is. But was it fair to India? Absolutely. And that matters in the current global media landscape, where Western platforms often toe the line of selective morality and skewed narratives," stated Savio Rodrigues, a BJP politician from Goa, who was formerly the spokesperson of the party's unit in the western coastal state.
Sputnik didn't resort to the hysteria everyone saw in certain Western headlines. It presented facts as they emerged, highlighted India's stated objectives, and refrained from undermining India's sovereign right to act in its national interest. That, in itself, is a powerful indicator of how Russia sees India—not just as a partner, but as a power with legitimate global agency, he added.
"Let's be clear—media in geopolitics is never without intent. Russia's intent here aligned with India's truth. And if that alignment leads to a more honest global narrative, then I welcome it," Rodrigues underlined.
Operation Sindoor showed the next level of perception management as far as conflicts are concerned, in which many stakeholders, both state and non-state, attempted to create a particular narrative, noted retired Colonel Jaibans Singh, an Indian Army veteran and the spokesperson of the BJP's Punjab unit.
It is sad to see that the majority of Western media did not stand with righteousness and justice and stood against the stance taken by India, which clearly was against terrorism and its supporters in Pakistan, he underscored.
In the entirety of this gamut of information warfare, Russia stood like a rock with India, and their management of the information spectrum was unbiased and practical, leading to very logical conclusions as against what was being done by the Western publications in spreading the Pakistani narratives, the BJP functionary pointed out.
"Leading the Russian effort on this front was Sputnik, which is read extensively in India and other parts of the world. Sputnik's coverage of Operation Sindoor was particularly good as it was based on facts, and for this, the media house deserves all credit," Singh told Sputnik India.
The Russian media at large, and Sputnik in particular, took an unbiased position during the military confrontation between India and Pakistan, Gulrez Sheikh, a member of the BJP's minority wing said, while the Western media toed the Pakistani line, peddling a series of unverified news items against India.
"It was quite apparent that the West was trying to achieve something that it had failed to do diplomatically, which is to underpin India's strength and resolve as a nation, so they began supporting Pakistan at a time when they should have supported India. Fortunately for India, unlike the West, the Russian media remained unbiased and showed the true picture of Operation Sindoor," Sheikh summed up.
Notably, the Western media concocted stories about the success of Operation Sindoor, often publishing stories without any sort of verified information. For instance, the alleged downing of India's warplanes has been given undue prominence despite Pakistan sharing no proof of it whatsoever.
Pakistan has claimed to have shot down five Indian jets in an aerial duel on the night of May 7, when the Indian Air Force struck nine locations inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
However, aviation pundits like Vijainder Thakur have raised doubts about the authenticity of Pakistan's statements.
"As for Pakistan, the absence of cockpit or radar scope footage showing an actual engagement indicates they're fishing for information," Thakur wrote on social media.