New Delhi:
The Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP, which leads the coalition of parties currently in the Indian government, has directly accused the US State Department of attempting to “destabilize India.” It also alleged that the US 'deep state' is working to 'tackle Prime Minister Narendra Modi'.
Addressing a press conference, the BJP spokesperson said, “It has always been the US State Department that is behind this agenda.”
BJP CLAIMS THAT THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP
Sambit Patra, the spokesperson of the ruling BJP, alleged that elements in the US deep state have conspired with a group of journalists and with Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi to throw a spanner in the wheel of India's growth story with baseless accusations and malicious reports without a 'scrap of evidence'. He suggested at a press conference that this is all in collaboration with the 'US Department of State'.
The BJP also slammed Rahul Gandhi for using reports from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project or OCCRP that “exceptionally focused” on attacking the Adani Group and its alleged close ties with the government to undermine Prime Minister Modi – all of it unfounded accusations', and without a 'sliver of evidence'.
The BJP spokesperson then cited a French media report showing that OCCRP was funded by the US Agency for International Development and “other deep state figures” such as George Soros. “The Deep State had a clear objective to destabilize India by attacking Prime Minister Modi,” the BJP said.
It added that “it has always been the US State Department behind this agenda… OCCRP has served as a media tool for carrying out a deep state agenda.”
“A French investigative media group has revealed that 50% of OCCRP's funding comes directly from the US State Department,” Patra said.
The BJP spokesperson then accused Rahul Gandhi of being a “traitor of the highest order”. He also said that “some agencies of America” and billionaire George Soros are forming a “dangerous triangle in an attempt to destabilize India.”
Sambit Patra's charge was subsequently echoed by his party colleague Nishikant Dubey in Parliament. Dubey accused the Congress of “conspiracy with foreign forces” to derail the government due to their “hatred” of Prime Minister Modi.
Dubey called for a thorough investigation into opposition leader Rahul Gandhi over his meeting with controversial business tycoon George Soros, who he said “routinely conspires to derail the economies of other countries,” and US lawmakers such as Ilhan Omar, who have strongly opposed against Prime Minister Modi and his colleagues. administration. “The Congress must respond to what happened during meetings with those who have a history of pushing an anti-India agenda during Rahul Gandhi's foreign tours,” he said.
CONGRESS RESPONSES AND DEMANDS AN APOLOGY
This resulted in a sharp response from Congress, which called it the “most unfortunate incident”. Congressman Shashi Tharoor slammed Mr Dubey and his “scandalous statement”.
“No. 1, you cannot attack people in a defamatory manner. No. 2, you cannot take anyone's name without giving them prior written notice, and No. 3, you cannot infringe on parliamentary privileges. He broke all three of those rules and he was allowed to continue talking and ranting for a long time… so we objected. The House was initially adjourned. We went to the Speaker and said that this should be removed from the report, Tharoor said.
OCCRP admitted that the US government had received “some funding”. The media group said in a statement that it is an independent media outlet and not affiliated with any political party. “While the U.S. government provides some funding to OCCRP, it has no authority over our editorial processes and no control over our reporting,” said a report in the Reuters news agency.
The US State Department has not yet responded to these allegations.
