'Congress, China, NewsClick... running anti-India agenda': BJP's Anurag Thakur lampoons Rahul Gandhi

The BJP on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Congress citing a New York Times expose on tech mughal Neville Roy Singham’s involvement in pushing Chinese propaganda worldwide, including in India through the website NewsClick.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur led the charge attacking the Congress for rushing to the defence of NewsClick when the BJP had clearly revealed its pro-China tilt back in 2021.

Addressing the reporters on Monday, he said that Congress, China and NewsClick are part of an umbilical cord.

#WATCH | Union Minister Anurag Thakur says, “Congress, China and NewsClick are part of an umbilical cord. In Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Nakli Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ Chinese goods can be seen clearly. His love for China can be seen. They were running an anti-India agenda…” pic.twitter.com/FenjDpr1Kl

— ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2023

“In Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Nakli Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ Chinese goods can be seen clearly. His love for China can be seen. They were running an anti-India agenda…,” said Thakur.

“In 2021, we exposed NewsClick as to how foreign propaganda is against India. In this anti-India campaign, Congress and other opposition parties came in their support… Chinese companies were funding NewsClick through Mogul Neville Roy Singham but their salesmen were some people from India, who came in their support when action was taken against them…,” he added.

Taking to Twitter earlier, the minister had said, “Even newspapers like ‘The New York Times’ are now admitting that Neville Roy Singham and his NewsClick are dangerous tools of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and promoting China’s political agenda across the world.”

Even newspapers like ‘The New York Times’ are now admitting that Neville Roy Singham and his NewsClick are dangerous tools of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and promoting China’s political agenda across the world.

Much before NYT, India has long been telling the world that… pic.twitter.com/3MtA4UTWkn

— Anurag Thakur (@ianuragthakur) August 6, 2023

“Much before NYT, India has long been telling the world that NewsClick is a dangerous global web of Chinese propaganda. Supported by like-minded forces, Neville has been furthering a dubious anti-India agenda.”

He said way back in the year 2021, when India’s law enforcement agencies initiated an inquiry against NewsClick based on strong evidence of money laundering, the Congress and the entire Left-Liberal ecosystem came to defend it.

“It is natural for the Congress to defend Neville and NewsClick because national interest never matters to its leadership. Isn’t it the same Congress Party that signed an MoU with the CPC in the year 2008 to promote Chinese interest in India and allegedly accepted donations for the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) from the Chinese embassy?” the minister asked.

He said that the UPA may change its name a thousand times but people are aware that the nation will not be safe in the hands of “GHAMANDIA gathbandhan”.

New York Times reported that Neville Roy Singham is “working with the Chinese government media machine and financing its propaganda worldwide”. “US non-profits are being used to push Chinese talking points”.

“In New Delhi, corporate filings show, Singham’s network financed NewsClick that sprinkled its coverage with Chinese talking points,” the report read.

From a think tank in Massachusetts to an event space in Manhattan, from a political party in South Africa to news organisations in India and Brazil, the NYT report tracked hundreds of millions of dollars to groups linked to Singham that mix progressive advocacy with Chinese government talking points.

Some, like No Cold War, popped up in recent years. Others, like the American antiwar group Code Pink, have morphed over time. Code Pink once criticised China’s rights record but now defends its internment of the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs, which human rights experts have labeled a crime against humanity, added the report.

These groups are funded through American nonprofits flush with at least $275 million in donations.

But Singham, 69, himself sits in Shanghai, where one outlet in his network is co-producing a YouTube show financed in part by the city’s propaganda department. Two others are working with a Chinese university to “spread China’s voice to the world.” And last month, Singham joined a Communist Party workshop about promoting the party internationally.

Singham says he does not work at the direction of the Chinese government. But the line between him and the propaganda apparatus is so blurry that he shares office space — and his groups share staff members — with a company whose goal is to educate foreigners about “the miracles that China has created on the world stage”, the report added.

With inputs from agencies