Over 250 eminent citizens, including former judges and ambassadors, have written to the President and Chief Justice of India calling for strong action against online news portal NewsClick, which is alleged to have received dubious funds from American billionaire Neville Roy Singham to spread Chinese propaganda.
Alleging that Indian taxpayers are being manipulated by fake news and subterfuge manufactured in China, the signatories to the letter said 'free press' covertly funded by China has had a field day challenging our democracy.
'We request you to direct the Union government to initiate an enquiry forthwith, at the highest levels, to ascertain the full extent of this anti-India conspiracy and thereby bring these enemy agents to justice... Now it is clear that it was no coincidence but by design that there was complete congruence on the coverage of the Rafale fighter jets deal in NewsClick and the agenda picked up by the Opposition parties,' the letter said.
'The question that inevitably arises is, should we not check such forces which are spreading misinformation and trying to interfere with our democratic processes at the behest of foreign powers? Can we allow such forces to let the voice of reason, of patriotism, of integrity be muffled for petty agendas?
'The news media portal NewsClick, notorious for peddling fake narratives, has been found guilty of questionable links to a country openly inimical to India's interest, China,' it added.
NewsClick is again in the spotlight after a recent New York Times report claimed that the news portal was part of a global network that received funding from Singham, who allegedly works closely with the Chinese government media machine.
The premises of NewsClick and its editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha were raided by the Enforcement Directorate in September 2021. It, last year, attached a flat worth Rs 4.52 crore, located in south Delhi's Saket area, linked to Purkayastha apart from fixed deposits worth Rs 41 lakh as part of the investigation.
The signatories to the letter include K Sreedhar Rao, former chief justice Telangana high court; 13 former high court judges, former home secretary L C Goyal; former R&AW chief Sanjeev Tripathi; former NIA director Yogesh Chander Modi; 12 former ambassadors; 20 former DGPs; among others.
In the statement jointly put out by the group, they said, 'The e-mail exchanges that are in public domain establish beyond doubt that these people are not leaders but dealers. They are not columnists but actually fifth-columnists. It is high time that this manufactured consensus of anti-national, anti-democratic, and ironically anti-free press agenda is set to rest.'
'The second disturbing point is that we, Indian taxpayers, are being manipulated by fake news and subterfuge manufactured in China. The fact that a website based in India is actively working for China makes us concerned, distressed and angry.
'The issues on which these forces were getting paid to build a media narrative in India are similar to the agenda of saving China's reputation when questions were asked of it in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are akin to the agenda of making China look good and India look bad with regard to how these countries managed the aftermath of the pandemic,' the letter said.
The New York Times report was also raised in Parliament when BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said the funds pumped into NewsClick were used to create an anti-India environment and that he had documents pertaining to e-mail exchanges between Left leader Prakash Karat and Singham.
The ED, as part of its criminal investigation against NewsClick, its promoters and others, is probing alleged fraudulent foreign funds infusion of more than Rs 86 crore from entities linked to Singham into its holding company (PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt. Ltd) and is expected to file a charge sheet in this case soon.
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