The Sunday Guardian

BBC AND HINDENBURG DARTS FAIL TO WOUND PM MODI

THE PRIME MINISTER DID WHAT THOSE HAVING CONFIDENCE IN HIS INTEGRITY HAD PREDICTED THAT HE WOULD DO, WHICH WAS TO DO NOTHING TO RESCUE THE BUSINESS GROUP.

- MADHAV NALAPAT

Acity state that has from the start opened its door to all four corners of the world and prospered as a result has become a crossroads of 21st century informatio­n warfare. From here, alternate realities that are cooked up by much bigger powers disseminat­e to the far corners of the globe, initially not in the form of press reports, but as cocktail gossip that subsequent­ly provides fodder for social media tsunamis. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, has the unenviable distinctio­n of being the primary target of both camps in the ongoing skirmishes of Cold War 2.0. Both the superpower­s, China and the United States, operate freely in Singapore, a metropolis that was fashioned into a global commercial power by the genius of Lee Kuan Yew. In the case of China, only a single channel, that which is sanctioned, indeed sanctified, by the support of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), dares to publicly expose its infowar talons. In the case of the US, very different power centres spew their own ersatz version of the facts in multiple directions, in the process utilising various channels. While those giving priority to global security interests are appreciati­ve of the way in which India is being transforme­d by Prime Minister Modi, those whose family and friends feed at the trough of the authoritar­ian superpower and its subsidiary satellite powers and interests seek to bring down the image and resonance of India, including by generating vicious and unrestrain­ed personal attacks on the country’s elected Prime Minister.

Within the higher levels of the PRC, those accustomed to judging internatio­nal respect solely by GDP and other material indicators of success are unhappy that in Asia, there is a strong challenger to the effort by the

CCP to portray its leadership as the tribune of the Global South while at the same time passing off the PRC as the best friend of the Global North. That challenger is Narendra Modi, and unlike in the case of the CCP infowar, the contest has not been waged on the basis of a well-funded, intensivel­y researched trajectory of influence but purely on the

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