‘Old Habits’: Jaishankar Slams Western Media For Negative Coverage Of Indian Elections; Says ‘Gyaan’ Not Needed

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar criticized the Western media for their ‘negative’ coverage of Indian elections. He highlighted the irony of countries that have to resort to legal battles for election results offering “gyan” (advice) on conducting polls. Jaishankar took a dig at Western nations, suggesting that their historical influence has made them reluctant to change their perspectives. He said the Western countries “feel” they have influenced the world for the last 200 years, so they are not able to give up their “old habits so easily.”

The Minister’s comments came during the launch of the Bangla edition of his book ‘Why Bharat Matters.’ Jaishankar addressed the media’s role in shaping public opinion and the challenges of navigating global perceptions in the digital age. He noted that the Western media tends to favor a specific ‘class of people’ to lead the country, causing discomfort when Indian voters choose differently.

“They (Western countries) do want to influence us because many of these countries feel that they have influenced this world for the last 70-80 years…Western countries actually feel that they influenced the world for the last 200 years. How do you expect for someone who has been in that position to give up those old habits so easily,” the EAM said at the event.

“Why these newspapers are so negative on India? Because they are seeing an India which is not in a sense compliant with their image of how India should be. They want people, ideology, or a way of life…they want that class of people to rule this country, and they are disturbed when the Indian population feels otherwise,” Jaishankar said.

He also emphasized that the Western media at times “openly endorsed candidates and political parties.””Western media in some cases have openly endorsed candidates and political parties, they don’t hide their preference. They are very smart, somebody is doing this domination game for 300 years, they learn a lot, anubhavi log hain, chatur log hain (they are experienced and clever people),” the EAM said.Terming this as “mind game”, Jaishankar took a jibe at the West and said the countries who go to court to decide election results are giving lectures to India.

“They (newspapers) will reputationally damage you, somebody will bring out an index and put you down in that…Countries which have to go to court to decide the result of their election are giving us gyan about how to conduct the election. This is the mind game that is happening in the world,” he further said.

Earlier too, Jaishankar criticized the Western media over its negative portrayal of Indian democracy,”I get a lot of these noises from the Western press and if they criticize our democracy, it’s not because they lack information. It is because they think they are also political players in our election,” he said at a forum for nationalist thinkers in Hyderabad in April.

(With ANI inputs)