China, NewsClick, Congress linked to ‘anti-India umbilical cord’: Anurag Thakur

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday alleged that China, NewsClick website and the Congress are linked to an “anti-India umbilical cord”, as the BJP leader cited a report in The New York Times which claimed that companies linked to China were funding the news portal.

Taking on the Congress at a joint news conference with Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar at the BJP headquarters here, Thakur alleged that Chinese goods are being sold in its leader Rahul Gandhi’s fake ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ (shop of love). He also said India was telling the world that NewsClick was a dangerous global network of “Chinese propaganda”.

In a report titled, “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a US Tech Mogul”, the US daily has claimed that the news portal was part of a global network that received funding from American millionaire Neville Roy Singham, who allegedly works closely with the Chinese government media machine.

“In New Delhi, corporate filings show Singham’s network financed a news site, NewsClick, that sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points. ‘China’s history continues to inspire the working classes,’ one video said,” the report noted.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey raised the news report in the Lok Sabha and alleged that NewsClick is a member of anti-India ‘Tukde Tukde’ gang, and demanded that the Government investigate the beneficiaries of the fundings.

“… Between 2005 and 2014, Chinese Government has paid money to Congress …. Congress wants to divide India …,” Dubey alleged amid an uproar by the opposition.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who returned to the Lok Sabha on Monday after he was reinstated as MP days after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in a criminal defamation case, was present in the House when Dubey raised the issue.

NewsClick issued a statement on Monday evening, claiming the allegations being made against it “by certain political actors and sections of the media are unfounded and without basis in fact or law”.

“Over the past 12 hours, various false and misleading allegations have been levelled against NewsClick which pertain to matters that are currently sub judice before courts in India. We respect the sanctity of the legal process and do not intend to indulge in a media trial,” the statement said.

There was no immediate reaction from the Congress.

Official sources said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing an alleged fraudulent foreign funds infusion of more than Rs 86 crore into a company that runs the NewsClick portal. The agency is also expected to file a charge sheet soon in the case being probed under the anti-money laundering law, the sources said.

Thakur said that when the ED raids were conducted against NewsClick two years ago, he said, the Congress and other opposition parties stood by the news portal and questioned the government’s action, raising the issue of press freedom.

“The newspaper (NYT), about which Congress and opposition parties talk big, has confirmed what India had said two years ago. In 2021, we exposed NewsClick and how foreign hand was working against India.” The Congress and opposition parties had then come in support of the “anti-India, break India campaign,” he charged. “Congress, China and NewsClick are part of one anti-India umbilical cord,” Thakur alleged, adding “Chinese goods are being sold in Rahul Gandhi ji’s fake ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ (shop of love).” The minister said, “If you see the funding network of NewsClick, it was funded by a foreigner, Neville Roy Singham, and he gets funds from China. Neville Roy Singham has direct contact with the propaganda arm of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese media company Maku Group,” he said.

“They present fake news in the name of free news. Congress and other parties are supporting them,” he alleged.

Referring to Gandhi’s remarks about India during his foreign visits, Thakur said the Congress leader’s “Love for China” and propaganda against India on foreign soil “under an agenda” have been seen.

“At Cambridge, Rahul Gandhi praised China, called it a force of nature and an aspiring superpower. He could not praise India. He insulted India and kept on saying democracy is under attack in the country,” he charged. This shows that Congress, China and NewsClick are part of one umbilical cord, he alleged.

“From 1962 to 2023, Congress has not changed a bit. The physical and intellectual space of India has been yet again handed by the Congress to China on a platter,” Thakur said.

Thakur said The New York Times report only highlights the threat that India, its democratic society and open media faces when a group of people and vested interests get together, invest in such platforms and operate in remarkable coordination with common consistent goal of fanning communal disharmony and incitements as well as spreading “lies and hatred about our prime minister and the government.” “We have seen this in Manipur recently,” he said, adding “There is remarkable convergence of strategy…. Ironically there is one political reader who is consistent with these narratives.” “These narratives put out by the platforms like NewsClick and others, operating in concert, are echoed almost blindly in a similar fashion by Rahul Gandhi. He goes abroad and says exactly the same thing: democracy is compromised, EVMs compromised,” Thakur said. PTI