Can propaganda on Iran allowing Indian ships hide Modi government’s failure to secure gas supply?
· Scroll
India had no role to play in starting the Iran war. But outside of the Gulf states, it is one of the countries most affected. Indians are seeing widespread shortages of cooking gas given India is highly dependent on the supply from West Asia and the country has almost no storage capacity.
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Faced with rising public anger over shortages, the Modi government reached for its most familiar tactical weapon: media manipulation.
Much of the past week saw news in the Indian media claiming Iran had exempted India from its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. On Thursday, ANI, India’s largest news wire, quoted unnamed sources to claim that Tehran will “allow Indian-flagged ships to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz”. Two days later, India’s largest English newspaper, The Times of India, made the same point in a headline.
A rather excitable Bharatiya Janata Party social media handle even claimed that this was a result of the “civilisational leadership of the Priest-King Modiji”.
On Sunday, no less than India’s external affairs minister refuted this. Speaking to the Financial Times, S Jaishankar made it clear there is no “blanket arrangement” with Tehran for Indian vessels and the movement of each ship through the strait was being negotiated.
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Why did the BJP need to depend on media misinformation...