Published 20:28 IST, January 24th 2020
US billionaire George Soros targets Modi govt in Davos, fearmongers over CAA
US billionaire George Soros, while speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "creating a Hindu nationalist state."
The ongoing protests, violence in its aftermath and statements by some politicians in India against the citizenship amendment act that the Parliament passed on December 11, has corroded India's global image it seems. On one hand, a UK based magazine in its recent issue has termed the country as "Intolerant", on the other, a US billionaire has said that the growing nationalism in India is "frightening." All this comes at the backdrop of the amended citizenship law, that will grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Christians and Buddhists from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
On Thursday, US billionaire George Soros, while speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "creating a Hindu nationalist state." He said that the "biggest and most frightening setback" of nationalism was in India.
Although the Indian government including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah has multiple times and at multiple occasions clarified that the amendment made in the law is to grant citizenship and not to take it away, fearmongering from Opposition leaders like Congress' Rahul Gandhi, TMC's Mamata Banerjee, AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi and others has spread a false information about the act.
In another incident, what seems to be an attempt to target the Modi government, UK based Economist Magazine has titled its recent issue as "Intolerant India" and has claimed to explain "how Modi is endangering the world's biggest democracy." It claims that the "civil liberties are being eroded", democratic institutions are being "weakened". However, the article has not mentioned about the anti-national sloganeering in the anti-CAA protests, the political agenda of the grand old party in Shaheen Bagh. It has also overlooked the repeated clarifications and outreach programme by the Modi government.
In the past, the Western media has targeted the Modi government after India abrogated Article 370 and integrated the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. While the neighbouring Pakistan attempted to spread fake news and rumour-mongered over the communication blockade in the Kashmir valley, Indian Army exposed their propaganda and stated that the blockade was necessary to prevent "provocation."
Updated 20:28 IST, January 24th 2020