WORLD NEWS | India has the most uncontrollable media: Jaishankar reacts to country’s low ranking on media index

Mysore (Karnataka) [India]May 7 (ANI): Responding to a question on India’s low ranking in the news index, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday that India has the most uncontrollable news.

In an interactive session on the foreign policy of the Modi government, Jaishankar said: “I am amazed by our numbers. I think we have the most uncontrolled media, and someone is fundamentally wrong.

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Comparing India’s rankings to Afghanistan, EAM said, “Afghanistan is freer than us. Can you imagine? See, here’s what I mean, I see the Democracy Index, Freedom Index, Religious Freedom Index and Press Freedom Index.”

Jaishankar refers to news indexing as “mind games,” which he says are ways of playing mind games, like downgrading a country you don’t like, while other countries don’t.

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A few days ago, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released their news index and ranked India 161st. Afghanistan ranks 152nd. China drops to the second-lowest position in the 2023 World Free Press Index, ranking 179th.

Last year, India ranked 150th. This time around, India dropped 11 places.

During the meeting, Jaishankar mocked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying he was in China taking lessons from the Chinese ambassador.

“I wanted to learn Chinese lessons from Rahul Gandhi, but I found out he was learning Chinese lessons from the Chinese ambassador,” he said, responding to criticism from the Congress leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s handling of relations with China .

Jaishankar mentioned Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with the Chinese ambassador to India during the Doklam crisis. He attacked the government, suggesting that new territories had been taken by Chinese slices of salami.

“I know everything in politics is political. I accept that. But I think on some issues we have a collective responsibility to do it at least in a way that we don’t weaken our (India’s) collective position abroad. The way we’ve seen things behave over the past three years in China,” Jaishankar said, adding, “often there are very misleading narratives.”

Jaishankar also slammed misleading narratives and misrepresentations, adding, “For example, we have a bridge that the Chinese are building over Pangong Tso. Now, the reality is that the first Chinese came to this particular area in 1959 , and then they took it in 1962. But that’s not how it was conveyed. It also happened in some of the so-called model villages that were built in areas that we lost in 62 or before 62. Now, I don’t believe you rarely hear me say 1962, that shouldn’t have happened, or you were wrong, or you were responsible. What happened has happened. It’s our collective, I would say failure or responsibility. I don’t necessarily Political. What I’d like to see is a serious China conversation. I’m prepared to have a different opinion on this, but if you boil it down to a swearing contest, what else can I say?” ( Ani)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)