An online petition against Time magazine has been filed on Change.org for its defamatory article against PM Narendra Modi. The petition says that the article is not only factually incorrect and questions the wisdom of Indian electorate who elected him in 2014, but the author is also wrong on most of his arguments, may it be economy, development, women empowerment or Hindu- Muslim divide.
An online petition has been filed against the Time magazine for its defmatory article against PM Modi
The Time magazine known for its chronic bias against India and Hindus has now targeted PM Narendra Modi. In its cover article by Aatish Taseer titled ‘India’s Divider in Chief’, it alleges that Modi is seeking to be re-elected while he has “helped create an atmosphere of poisonous religious nationalism in India”. He also contends that the economic miracles failed to materialize. The author is the son of a prominent Indian journalist and a Pakistani businessman and politician.
The timing of its cover article when India is amidst its general elections, the choice of author and the disparaging title has raised several questions on the article’s intent and the objectivity of the magazine itself. While Modi’s opponents in India and across the border latched on to the article with glee, average Indian reader of English and common man of India differed with the article and its purport in its entirety. A cursory look at India’s social media tells us that common users were against the poisonous article with most commenting that it was devoid of facts and objectivity. The BJP too has taken strong objection to the article and the party’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra accused the Time magazine of being heavily biased.
The India diaspora spread across the world too has decried the Time’s cover article and title with many accusing the magazine of Hinduphobia. Indians across the world have been writing and tweeting against the inherent bias of the Time magazine and its authors. Many of those who commented against the article have asked the time as to why another article by Ian Bremmer titled ‘Modi the Reformer’ was not made the cover instead of the Mr. Taseer’s article. The Time has not provided with any explanation as yet. A petition has been initiated against the Time magazine’s article on Change.org as a mark of protest against the article.
The petition titled ‘Protest against defamatory article by Aatish Taseer in TIME Magazine against PM MODI’ was started by Ashwin Johar and is petitioned to the Editor of the Time magazine. The petition says that the article ‘is not only factually incorrect but it also questions the wisdom of Indian electorate who have overwhelmingly supported him in 2014’. Further it states that ‘Mr Taseer is wrong on most of his arguments, may it be economy, development, women empowerment or Hindu- Muslim divide.’ The petition questions the objective of the column and alleges that it is to defame Modi, Indian electorate and India in general. The petition questions the wisdom of its editors who chose to make this ‘derogatory column’ as its cover story instead of Ian Bremmer’s article.
The petition has garnered wide support from across the board and as of publishing this article, the petition has close to 20500 supporters. The text of the petition is as below.
“The latest column by– Aatish Taseer in Time magazine against Prime minister Narendra Modi is not only factually incorrect but it also questions the wisdom of Indian electorate who have overwhelmingly supported him in 2014 and also likely to reaffirm their faith in the leadership of Mr Modi again in the ongoing election – Mr Taseer is wrong on most of his arguments, may it be economy, development, women empowerment or Hindu- Muslim divide. His intellectual arguments that India’s past, her heritage is an impediment for India’s future progress is equally baseless. There is every evidence to show otherwise. From the great freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel to social reformers like Ambedkar, everyone had deep roots in Indian heritage, though they have condemned social ills in the strongest terms, and rightly so.
It appears that the only objective of this Pakistani- origincolumnist is to defame Modi, defame Indian electorate and defame India. We are equally appalled by the choice of Timeeditors to make it highly derogatory column as its cover story,rather than another balanced story in the same issue of Time by Ian Bremmer which says that only- Modi is best suitable for economic reforms in India.
We undersigned strongly protest against such a derogatory article against India and a democratically elected leader of India, Mr. Narendra Modi. Needless to say that such biased article will have little or no effect on Indian electorate and they will elect Mr. Modi for the second term as India’s Prime Minister.“
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