‘Blatant untruths, unprofessional reporting’: MEA on Australian documentary about Indian government

The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said that a recent documentary by Australia’s ABC News about the Narendra Modi government contains “blatant untruths” and “reflects unprofessional reporting”.

While the ministry spokesperson did not name the documentary he was referring to, his comments came in response to a reporter’s question about recent reports in the Australian media claiming that the country had expelled several alleged Indian spies.

The ABC News on June 17 released a documentary titled Spies, secrets and threats: How the Modi regime targets people overseas. It features an investigation into an alleged “nest of [Indian] spies” and Australian residents who claim to have been threatened by Indian authorities.

ABC News is a subsidiary of the Australian national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“It is a documentary and I would like to respond to the documentary per se,” said ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. “Because the documentary has several elements to it. It contains blatant untruths. I would urge you to please have a look at the documentary. It is biased and reflects unprofessional reporting.”

He added: “It appears to serve a particular agenda to malign India. We obviously oppose any attempts to condone or justify or even glorify terrorism.”

According to Jaiswal, the “very basis of this documentary is something that is questionable”.

The documentary features Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s former South Asia...

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