MYSURU: India has the most uncontrollable press, you said Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Sunday in response to a question about India’s low position in the press index.
During the Modi government’s foreign policy interactive session, Jaishankar said, “I was blown away by our numbers. I thought we had the most uncontrollable press and someone is doing something fundamental wrong.
Comparing India’s rank with Afghanistan, EAM said, ‘Afghanistan used to be freer than us. Can you imagine? Look, that’s all I mean, I see the democracy index, the freedom index , the religious freedom index and the press freedom index”.
Calling the press index “mind games,” Jaishankar said these are the ways of playing mind games that are like downgrading the country you don’t like while others don’t.
This statement came just days after Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its press index and ranked India at 161. While Afghanistan stood at 152. China drops to second lowest place in 2023 World Freedom Press Index, in 179th place.
Last year, India was ranked 150th. This time India drops 11 places.
During the session, Jaishankar made fun of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said he was taking lessons in China from the Chinese ambassador.
He said: “I would have offered to take lessons on China from Rahul Gandhi, but I found he was taking lessons on China from the Chinese ambassador,” responding to the Congress leader’s criticisms of the government’s handling of relations with China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Jaishankar referred to Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with the Chinese ambassador to India during the Doklam crisis. He attacked the government, suggesting that the new territory had been lost to the Chinese salami cutting.
“I know everything in politics is political. I accept that. But I think on some issues we have a collective responsibility to behave at least in a way that does not weaken our (India’s) collective position abroad to do what we have seen in the last few three years in China,” Jaishankar said, adding, “very misleading narratives are often inserted.”
Jaishankar also criticized the misleading narratives and misrepresentations, adding, “We had, for example… a bridge that the Chinese were building on Pangong Tso. Now, the reality was that that particular area first came in 1959, and then they occupied it in 1962. But that’s not how it was presented, it also happened in the case of some of the so-called model villages, which were built on areas that we lost in 62 or before 62. Now, I don’t believe very seldom you will hear me say 1962, it shouldn’t have happened, either you are wrong, or you are responsible. What happened happened. It is our collective, I would say failure or responsibility. I don’t necessarily attribute a political color to it I’d like to see that it’s actually a serious conversation about China. I’m ready to accept that there are different viewpoints on this, but if you boil it down to kind of a slang meeting, what can I say next?”
During the Modi government’s foreign policy interactive session, Jaishankar said, “I was blown away by our numbers. I thought we had the most uncontrollable press and someone is doing something fundamental wrong.
Comparing India’s rank with Afghanistan, EAM said, ‘Afghanistan used to be freer than us. Can you imagine? Look, that’s all I mean, I see the democracy index, the freedom index , the religious freedom index and the press freedom index”.
Calling the press index “mind games,” Jaishankar said these are the ways of playing mind games that are like downgrading the country you don’t like while others don’t.
This statement came just days after Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its press index and ranked India at 161. While Afghanistan stood at 152. China drops to second lowest place in 2023 World Freedom Press Index, in 179th place.
Last year, India was ranked 150th. This time India drops 11 places.
During the session, Jaishankar made fun of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said he was taking lessons in China from the Chinese ambassador.
He said: “I would have offered to take lessons on China from Rahul Gandhi, but I found he was taking lessons on China from the Chinese ambassador,” responding to the Congress leader’s criticisms of the government’s handling of relations with China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Jaishankar referred to Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with the Chinese ambassador to India during the Doklam crisis. He attacked the government, suggesting that the new territory had been lost to the Chinese salami cutting.
“I know everything in politics is political. I accept that. But I think on some issues we have a collective responsibility to behave at least in a way that does not weaken our (India’s) collective position abroad to do what we have seen in the last few three years in China,” Jaishankar said, adding, “very misleading narratives are often inserted.”
Jaishankar also criticized the misleading narratives and misrepresentations, adding, “We had, for example… a bridge that the Chinese were building on Pangong Tso. Now, the reality was that that particular area first came in 1959, and then they occupied it in 1962. But that’s not how it was presented, it also happened in the case of some of the so-called model villages, which were built on areas that we lost in 62 or before 62. Now, I don’t believe very seldom you will hear me say 1962, it shouldn’t have happened, either you are wrong, or you are responsible. What happened happened. It is our collective, I would say failure or responsibility. I don’t necessarily attribute a political color to it I’d like to see that it’s actually a serious conversation about China. I’m ready to accept that there are different viewpoints on this, but if you boil it down to kind of a slang meeting, what can I say next?”
