Time magazine in about-face now says 'Modi has united India'
New York, May 29: Time magazine, which published a cover story before the Indian election calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi the “Divider in Chief”, has in a quick about-face run a report with the headline, ‘Modi Has United India Like No Prime Minister in Decades’.
The article with that headline published on its website on Tuesday, asked, “How has this supposedly divisive figure not only managed to keep power, but increase his levels of support?” and answered: “A key factor is that Modi has managed to transcend India’s greatest fault line: the class divide.”
The writer, Manoj Ladwa, credited Modi’s emergence as a unifier to his origins in a backward caste--a factor missed or deliberately omitted by the Western media obsessed with what they call upper caste domination.
“Narendra Modi was born into one of India’s most disadvantaged social groups,” he explained. “In reaching the very top, he personifies the aspirational working classes and can self-identify with his country’s poorest citizens in a way that the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, who have led India for most of the 72 years since Independence, simply cannot.”
“Yet despite the strong and often unfair criticisms levelled at Modi’s policies both throughout his first term and this marathon election, no Prime Minister has united the Indian electorate as much in close to five decades,” he said referring to Indira Gandhi’s massive 1971 victory.
The pre-election cover story by Aatish Taseer was turned into campaign fodder in India and acclaimed by Modi’s critics as an indictment of him as a “divider” by a global media powerhouse.
In reality, Time is an ailing magazine that has changed hands twice in a year--bought in March last year by Meredith, the publisher of magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, and All Recipes; it was sold again in September to tech entrepreneur Marc Benioff, the founder of Salesforce, and his wife.
In fact Time’s flagship US edition did not bother run the Modi story as cover, and instead gave the spot to Elizabeth Warren, a candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination for president.
Taseer wrote in the cover story, “Not only has Modi’s economic miracle failed to materialise, he has also helped create an atmosphere of poisonous religious nationalism in India.”
However, in the latest story, Ladwa writes: “Through socially progressive policies, he has brought many Indians, both Hindus and religious minorities, out of poverty at a faster rate than in any previous generation.”
Ladwa is the founder and CEO of Britain-based media company India Inc., which publishes India Global Business.
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345 Indian fishermen stranded in Iran return home via Armenia
New Delhi (PTI): A group of 345 Indian fishermen, who were stranded in Iran amid escalating regional tensions, returned to India via Armenia on Saturday, officials said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar thanked his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan for assistance in return of the Indian nationals.
The Indian nationals arrived in Chennai this evening, the officials cited above said.
The circumstances that led to them being stranded in Iran were not immediately known.
"Thank FM @AraratMirzoyan and the Government of Armenia for facilitating the evacuation of Indian fishermen today from Iran, through Armenia to India," Jaishankar said on social media.
Over 1,500 Indian nationals have left Iran through land border crossings in Armenia and Azerbaijan since the start of the West Asia conflict over a month ago.
"A group of Indian fishermen, stranded in Iran, are returning home via Armenia today; their flight is expected to reach India this evening," a government statement said.
It said the Ministry of External Affairs continues to closely monitor the evolving situation in the West Asian region, with the safety, security and welfare of the Indian community being accorded the highest priority.
It also made a mention of five Indians being injured in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
According to Abu Dhabi authorities, the Indian nationals were among the 12 people injured by debris from an intercepted missile.
"In an attack in Abu Dhabi, five Indian nationals were injured; four have been discharged, one remains under treatment," the Indian government's statement said.
It said the Indian mission in Abu Dhabi is extending "full" assistance and coordinating with local authorities, adding that their flight is expected to reach India this evening.
