'My Lowest Turnout Is Higher Than Your Highest': Jaishankar's Response To 'Noises From Western Press'

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday criticised the Western media over unfair criticism of India, saying that they act as “political players” in the country’s elections.

“I get a lot of noises from the Western press. If they criticise our democracy, it’s not because they lack information, it is because they think they are also political players in our election,” the minister said, while delivering an address on “Foreign Policy the India Way: From Diffidence to Confidence” in Hyderabad.

“I read an article today where some Western media said, it is so hot in India, why are they holding elections at this time? I read that article and I wanted to say, in that heat my lowest turnout is higher than your highest turnout in the best record,” he said, adding “These are the games that are being played with” India.”

‘We disabuse them’

“These are politics. These are our domestic politics which is going global, global politics which feels they must now intrude in India… So they actually think they are part of our electorate. It’s time today that we disabuse them. And the best way that we do that is by confidence,” he added.

This response comes a day after the US State Department’s annual human rights assessment alleged “numerous instances” in which the government and its allies “allegedly pressured or harassed media outlets critical of the government.”

In 2023, Reporters Without Borders ranked India 161st out of 180 countries on its press freedom index. Several questions were raised about how India got ranked below Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The Indian government has rejected these allegations and indices, saying these have political motives behind them.

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