Indian High Commission In Australia Slams Media Report "Modi Leads India Into A Viral Apocalypse"

Lucknow, April 27 (TNA) As COVID continues to ravage India and many people on the social media blame the mainstream media of "reporting little" on the intensity of the spread of the virus, the foreign media is going full hog in reporting the growing cases, deaths and shortage of life-saving drugs, hospital beds and oxygen supply.

One such report was published in an Australian daily newspaper and now it has come under heavy fire from the Government of India. The Indian High Commission in Australia has called a report in The Times and The Australian on Sunday, as "baseless, malicious and slanderous".

The article, attributes the rise in cases to factors like allowing thousands to attend election rallies, permitting the mega Kumbh, ignoring experts' advice on more infectious strains, and a critical shortage of medical oxygen and vaccines.

Acknowledging the potential impact of mutated Covid viruses, the article also refers to "hubris... nationalist politics... slow vaccine roll-out, an ill-equipped health system... and promotion of the economy over containment".

The High Commission wrote to Christopher Dore, The Australian's editor-in-chief, on Monday and accused him of publishing a report "written with the sole objective of undermining the universally acclaimed approach taken by the Government of India to fight the pandemic".

The letter referred to "a number of measures" taken by the government to combat the pandemic, starting from the lockdown in March last year to the vaccination drive. The terse one page letter with five points of rebuttal, is signed by PS Karthigeyan, deputy High Commissioner of India in Australia and is addressed to Christopher Dore, Editor-In-Chief of The Australian. The letter demands that the newspaper immediately publish a rejoinder to its earlier story.

The High Commission also slammed the newspaper's "rush to blame the surge on the restricted election campaign by the Prime Minister of India and one religious gathering".