Indian Foreign minister lashes out at critics following the BBC raids

• India’s foreign minister lashed out on Saturday.
• Jaishankar supported the prime minister, labeling critics as “scaremongers.”
• The BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai were raided by Indian tax authorities.

SYDNEY: India’s foreign minister lashed out on Saturday at “scaremongering” opponents who believe the country’s democracy is deteriorating, singling out billionaire George Soros, a frequent target for right-wing ire.

S. Jaishankar denied at a Sydney event that frequent raids on the BBC’s India headquarters demonstrated Prime Leader Narendra Modi and his government were moving towards dictatorship.

Jaishankar supported the prime minister, labeling critics as “scaremongers,” with a “Euro-Atlantic view” of democracy that fails to respect the Indian people’s democratic decision.

“There are still people in the world who believe that their definition, their preferences, their views must override everything else,” he said.

The BBC‘s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai were raided by Indian tax authorities just weeks after the channel aired a documentary about Modi’s involvement during deadly sectarian rioting in 2002.

Modi “is no democrat”

Jaishankar singled out benefactor Soros, who recently highlighted Modi’s tight relationships with fraud-accused enterprises operated by buddy Gautam Adani and stated that while India was a democracy, Modi “is no democrat”.

Jaishankar denounced the 92-year-old Hungarian-born financier as “old, rich opinionated, and dangerous” and someone who “still thinks that his views should determine how the entire world works.”

“He actually thinks that it doesn’t matter that this is a country of 1.4 billion people — we are almost that — whose voters decide how the country should run.”

Soros has long financed organizations advocating openness and democracy, which has led to numerous conspiracy theories and politically driven attacks on him.

“People like him believe that elections are beneficial if the person we wish to see elected wins. If the election results in a different way, we will truly claim that democracy is defective “According to Jaishankar.

Press freedom in the world’s biggest democracy has suffered during Modi’s tenure, rights activists say, and the opposition Congress party condemned the raids, saying there was an “undeclared emergency” in the country.

A spokesman for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the broadcaster of engaging in “anti-India propaganda” but said the raids were lawful and the timing had nothing to do with the government.

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