The Centre on Friday questioned an editorial published in The New York Times’, criticising the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s selection of right-wing leader Adityanath as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister. The English daily accused Modi of playing a “cagey game” to appease the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindu base.
“All editorials or opinions are subjective. This case is particularly so. The wisdom in doubting the verdicts of genuine democratic exercises, at home or abroad, is questionable,” spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry Gopal Baglay told PTI.
In its scathing attack on Adityanath’s selection titled “Mr. Modi’s Perilous Embrace of Hindu Extremists”, The New York Times said the prime minister “sees no contradiction between economic development and muscular Hindu nationalism”.
“The move is a shocking rebuke to religious minorities and a sign that cold political calculations ahead of national elections in 2019 have led Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party to believe that nothing stands in the way of realising its long-held dream of transforming a secular republic into a Hindu state,” the editorial said.
The publication’s coverage of Adityanath’s career highlighted his “demonising Muslims” and belief in the conspiracy theory of love jihad, which is the “notion that Muslim men connive to water down the overwhelming Hindu majority by seducing Hindu women”. It also recalled his defence of the mob that lynched Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, based on the suspicion that he had consumed beef.
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