By Nava Thakuria*
Guwahati: A debate has been triggered off with the advertisement looking for a New York Times correspondent to cover India as well as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives, where its job description referred Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an advocator of a self-sufficient, muscular nationalism centered on the country’s Hindu majority (https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/south-asia-business-correspondent-new-delhi-at-the-new-york-times-2617299815/?originalSubdomain=in).
Reacting sharply over the New York Times’ purported advertisement in social media platform Linked-in for its requirement for a correspondent in New Delhi, a forum of Assam-based “nationalist Indians” commented that the so-called internationally acclaimed newspaper has thus unmasked itself by openly showing its prejudice about the Narendra Modi government.
Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA), in a statement today, also added that many Indian journalists often fall prey to such tactics by many foreign media organizations for their selfish interests.
“India will soon surpass China in population, if it hasn’t already, and has ambitions of winning a greater voice on the world stage,” said the American daily newspaper terming its international border clashes with aggressive China as a drama playing out by the Modi led Union government.
“Should we assume that the newspaper gets frustrated with the political-will of the Centre in moving to rival China’s economic and political heft in Asia,” questioned the PPFA statement adding that “NYT has simply shown its real face to the world as a motivated, biased and distressed media organ”.
*The writer is a senior journalist
