NEW DELHI, Aug 7: BJP leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday alleged that China, NewsClick website and the Congress are linked to an “anti-India umbilical cord” as he cited a news report which claimed that companies linked to China were funding the portal.
In a report titled, “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a US Tech Mogul”, The New York Times has claimed that the news portal was part of a global network that received funding from American millionaire Neville Roy Singham, who allegedly works closely with the Chinese government media machine.
“In New Delhi, corporate filings show, Singham’s network financed a news site, NewsClick, that sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points. ‘China’s history continues to inspire the working classes,’ one video said,” The New York Times report noted.
Addressing a press conference along with Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar at the BJP headquarters here, Thakur said India was telling the world that NewsClick was a dangerous global network of “Chinese propaganda”.
When Enforcement Directorate raids were conducted against NewsClick two years ago, he said, the Congress and other opposition parties stood by the news portal and questioned the government’s action, raising the issue of press freedom.
“The newspaper (NYT), about which Congress and opposition parties talk big, has confirmed what India had said two years ago. In 2021, we exposed NewsClick and how foreign hand was working against India,” Thakur said.
The Congress and opposition parties had then come in support of the “anti-India, break India campaign,” he charged. “Congress, China and NewsClick are part of one anti-India umbilical cord,” Thakur alleged, adding “Chinese goods are being sold in Rahul Gandhi ji’s fake ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ (shop of love).”
The minister said, “If you see the funding network of NewsClick, it was funded by a foreigner, Neville Roy Singham, and he gets funds from China. Neville Roy Singham has direct contact with the propaganda arm of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese media company Maku Group,” he said.
“They present fake news in the name of free news. Congress and other parties are supporting them,” he alleged.
Referring to Gandhi’s remarks about India during his foreign visits, Thakur said the Congress leader’s “Love for China” and propaganda against India on foreign soil “under an agenda” have been seen.
“At Cambridge, Rahul Gandhi praised China, called it a force of nature and an aspiring superpower. He could not praise India. He insulted India and kept on saying democracy is under attack in the country,” he charged. This shows that Congress, China and NewsClick are part of one umbilical cord, he alleged.
“From 1962 to 2023, Congress has not changed a bit. The physical and intellectual space of India has been yet again handed by the Congress to China on a platter,” Thakur said.
The Union minister also targeted a communist party, claiming that one of its IT cell members had received Rs 22 lakh from the funds provided by Singham.
“From Soros to Singham and China to Congress, they all appear alliance partners against India, carrying forward anti-India agenda, break-India agenda. There cannot be anything more unfortunate than this,” the minister said.
Thakur asked Gandhi to clarify as to where the fund that Rajiv Gandhi Foundation received from the Communist Party of China in 2005-07 was spent.
Earlier in the day, BJP member Nishikant Dubey mentioned in Lok Sabha the New York Times report.
There was no immediate reaction available from the news portal or the Congress.
Thakur said The New York Times report only highlights the threat that India, its democratic society and open media faces when a group of people and vested interests get together, invest in such platforms and operate in remarkable coordination with common consistent goal of fanning communal disharmony and incitements as well as spreading “lies and hatred about our prime minister and the government.”
“We have seen this in Manipur recently,” he said, adding “There is remarkable convergence of strategy…. Ironically there is one political reader who is consistent with these narratives.”
“These narratives put out by the platforms like NewsClick and others, operating in concert, are echoed almost blindly in a similar fashion by Rahul Gandhi. He goes abroad and says exactly the same thing: democracy is compromised, EVMs compromised,” Thakur said. (PTI)
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