New Delhi: The Information and Broadcasting Minister, Anurag Thakur, has accused The New York Times of spreading falsehoods about India and described an opinion piece published by the newspaper on press freedom in Kashmir as "mischievous and fictitious."
In a tweet, Thakur claimed that the newspaper had long ago abandoned any pretence of neutrality when reporting on India and accused it and other foreign media of spreading lies about the country and its democratically elected Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
"New York Times had long back dropped all pretensions of neutrality while publishing anything about India. NYT's so-called opinion piece on freedom of the press in Kashmir is mischievous and fictitious, published with a sole motive to spread propaganda about India and its democratic institutions and values," Thakur’s tweet read.
He went on to say that freedom of the press in India is just as important as any other fundamental right and that the country's democracy is mature enough not to require any lessons in how to function from the likes of such agenda-driven media.
"This is in continuation with what NYT and a few other link-minded foreign media have been spreading lies about India and our democratically elected Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji. Such lies can't last long," the minister said.
Thakur also condemned what he called the "blatant lies" spread by The New York Times about press freedom in Kashmir and stated that Indians would not tolerate such propaganda on their soil.
Terming press freedom in India as sacrosanct as other fundamental rights, the minister said, "democracy in India and We the people are very mature and we don't need to learn the grammar of democracy from such agenda-driven media."