India Livid Over ‘Baseless’ Article Published In 'The Australian'

“While our scientific community is still looking at possible reasons for the sudden surge in infections, including on the role of infectious new strains that came from outside India, the article has strangely rushed to blame the surge on the restricted election campaign by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and one religious gathering,” he added.

Patients breathe with the help of oxygen provided by a Gurdwara, a place of worship for Sikhs, under a tent installed along the roadside amid Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in Ghaziabad on April 26, 2021. Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP

Canberra: The Indian High Commission in Australia has asked 'The Australian'  newspaper to issue a rejoinder over the publication of an article “Modi leads India into viral apocalypse” by Philip Sherwell stating the “coverage of such motivated and malicious reports in your publication only helps in spreading falsehoods and undermining humanity’s common fight against the pandemic”.

“With regard to the recent surge in infections, all possible measures are being taken on a war footing by authorities in India and we are confident that the surge will be contained very soon. Welfare of every citizen of India remains the highest priority for the Government of India,” Deputy High Commissioner P.S. Karthigeyan wrote to Christopher Dore, editor-in-Chief of The Australian.

“While our scientific community is still looking at possible reasons for the sudden surge in infections, including on the role of infectious new strains that came from outside India, the article has strangely rushed to blame the surge on the restricted election campaign by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and one religious gathering.”

“Urge @australian to publish the rejoinder to set the record straight on the covid management in India and also refrain from publishing such baseless articles in future. @cgisydney @CGIPerth @cgimelbourne @MEAIndia,” India in Australia posted on its Twitter handle.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Urge <a href="https://twitter.com/australian?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>@australian</a> to publish the rejoinder to set the record straight on the covid management in India and also refrain from publishing such baseless articles in future. <a href="https://twitter.com/cgisydney?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>@cgisydney</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CGIPerth?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>@CGIPerth</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/cgimelbourne?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>@cgimelbourne</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MEAIndia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>@MEAIndia</a> <a href="https://t.co/4Z3Mk6ru3W" rel='nofollow'>https://t.co/4Z3Mk6ru3W</a> <a href="https://t.co/4bgWYnKDlB" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/4bgWYnKDlB</a></p>&mdash; India in Australia (@HCICanberra) <a href="https://twitter.com/HCICanberra/status/1386678297665314827?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>April 26, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

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The article in The Australian has blamed the second deadly wave on Prime Minister and the inefficacy of his government in being able to handle the oxygen crisis in New Delhi and the neighbouring regions. 

Condemning the report in the daily, the Deputy High Commissioner said: “It is astonishing to see that your respected publication has chosen to reproduce a completely baseless, malicious and slanderous article without bothering to check the facts of the case with any authorities in the Government of India.”

“It appears that the report has been written only with the sole objective of undermining the universally acclaimed approach taken by the Government of India to fight against the deadly global pandemic,” he added.

Karthigeyan further said the Indian Government has taken a number of measures to control the pandemic “starting off with the longest and strictest lockdown in the world to the ongoing Covid-10 vaccination drive, the world’s largest and fastest to reach 140 million”.

“Massive upgradation in diagnostics (1.7 million tests on 25 April 2021) and treatment facilities undertaken in a record time have saved hundreds of millions of lives and have been praised by the entire global community. Our much acclaimed VACCINE MAITRI Initiative to send 66 million vaccines to 80 countries and also to supply medicines and PPEs to 150 countries earlier probably saved hundreds of millions more around the world,” he added in his letter.