“Racism is real, and colonisation of Indian minds is the objective of the West. To do this, western media is an important instrument in their hands, and it has become more and more evident since independence by examining its reporting or analysis of any Indian achievement and progress. With this understanding, we must have our resources and strength to repel and express what is Bharat and its continuous civilisation, said Umesh Upadhyaya, an author and senior journalist at Nallagandla, Bhayganagar.
He was addressing the gathering following the launch of his book titled “Western Media Narratives on India from Gandhi to Modi” organised by Samvit Kendra, a research organisation based in the City of Fortune.
In his speech, Umesh Upadhyay gave several examples, citing global media houses like The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The Washington Post, TIME, BBC, The Guardian, The Telegraph, and several other English media outlets. He said the local reporting of incidents and developments was cherry-picked by the West and then twisted and manipulated to suit their agenda in narrative building or shaping public opinion on Bharat.
He cited biased Western media coverage on Indian space agency ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 achievement, specifically quoting the BBC, where one of its journalists asked a question like, “India lacks a lot of infrastructure and has extreme poverty; where more than 700 million Indians don’t have access to toilets, should they be spending this much money on a space mission?” This is one of several comments that reflect their true ill-intended motive and how they perceive and project India’s progress, as well as their aversion to our scientific and technological achievements.
During the Covid crisis, the Western Media was over-enthusiastic in naming the Delta variant of Covid as an Indian variant, but the same media never called or accused China or Wuhan, where the deadly virus originated. Moreover, the Western media did not even acknowledge the scientific achievement of Indian-made vaccines and the generosity of the government in supplying to various countries of the globe.
Commenting on political reporting by West, he reminded how the democratically elected BJP government in 2014, was labeled Hindu Government, but the same media never indulged in prefixing Islamic for Pakistan or Christian governments for the UK or Italy, or any other nations.
In particular, when it comes to the civilisation and cultural matters of Bharat, they depict the Hindus in a very poor and bad light, attributing a superior stature to Christianity as culturally rich and the Church having a divine duty to civilize the world through evangelism.
Umesh ji also recalled how British newspapers reported on the events of Operation Polo aimed to liberate Hyderabad state from tyrant Nizam, where then Home Minister Sardar Patel was portrayed as an aggressor and Nizam as a victim, though the reality is known to us. The British parliament and its lawmakers continue to drag Indian internal affairs to global platforms like the United Nations, but they never questioned the integrity of Western media and its interests.
Cartelisation of information and its storage by the West thus building an opinion is a big challenge that needs to be countered in today’s context where AI and technology are predicted to play a major role in building a narrative on global order that suits West and its interests, he added.
In reply to a question from the audience, he expressed that governments have always had limited powers, but Bharatiya society should find ways to come out with their own media projects and institutions that can repel the West and project the reality of Bharat and its rise to the global audience.
G Vallishwar, a member of the National Book Trust and senior journalist, said the rise of Bharat on its strengths and capabilities is not acceptable to the West, which was reflected in their stories in the media and descriptions of events that happened in India. But Bharat should continue to sail on its journey on its terms.
In his vote of thanks, Ayush, Secretary of Samvit Kendra, explained the organisation’s activities and focused on primary research on the socio-political, economic, history, and civilization of our country.
The book launch event was attended by Dr Rahul Shastri, the president of Samvit Kendra, academicians, IT professionals, and others.
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