Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, May 18, responded to the TIME magazine cover calling him “India’s Divider In Chief”. “Time magazine is foreign, the writer has also said he comes from a Pakistani political family. That is enough for his credibility,” PM Modi.
The headline in the cover reads “India’s Divider in Chief” and carries a portrait of the Prime Minister. A secondary headline on the cover reads “Modi the Reformer.”
The title “India’s Divider in Chief” pertains to the cover story in the magazine, written by Taseer, with the headline “Can the World’s Largest Democracy Endure Another Five Years of a Modi Government?”
The write up compares former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s idea of secularism with the prevailing social “stress” under Modi, who “demonstrated no desire to foster brotherly feelings between Hindus and Muslims,” as per the article.
Earlier the BJP slammed the magazine, by saying the author of the article was a Pakistani national and that the neighbouring country’s only agenda was to malign Modi’s image.
“The author (Aatish Taseer) is a Pakistani citizen who calls Modiji a divider and Rahul Gandhi tweets about it. What can we expect from Pakistan?” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra had told reporters here.
Aatish Taseer is a British-born writer-journalist and the son of Indian journalist Tavleen Singh and late Pakistani politician and businessman Salmaan Taseer.
With inputs from IANS
‘Divider in-chief’ title to Modi is right: Kamal Nath (IANS Interview)
