COVID-19 crisis: Govt. issues rejoinder to Australian paper for scathing article

The Australian newspaper reproduced an article that portrayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a poor light, accusing him of ‘leading India’ into a ‘viral apocalypse’.

Facing a barrage of criticism from a number of international newspapers for its handling of the coronavirus crisis, the government hit out at The Australian newspaper for reproducing an article that portrayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a poor light, accusing him of “leading India” into a “viral apocalypse”. In a letter addressed to the Editor of the Australian newspaper Christian Dore, the Indian High Commission in Canberra said that the article sought to “undermine” the Modi government for its approach to the pandemic, which the government said had been “universally acclaimed”. “It is astonishing to see that your respected publication has chosen to reproduce a baseless malicious and slanderous article without bothering to check the facts of the case with any authorities in the Government of India,” said the rejoinder, signed by India’s Deputy High Commissioner, who claimed that last year’s lockdown, the ongoing vaccination drive, an upgradation in diagnostics and treatment facilities, as well as India’s “Vaccine Maitri” initiative, where it exported 66 million vaccines to 80 countries (now 95 countries), were counters to the article’s assertions.