China, NewsClick and Congress linked with 'anti-India umbilical cord', says Anurag Thakur

When ED raids were conducted against NewsClick 2 years ago, he said, the Congress and other opposition parties stood by them, Thakur alleged.

The BJP on Monday cited news reports on Chinese funding of an Indian website to target former Congress President Rahul Gandhi alleging links between China and the Congress party.

The New York Times in a report on Sunday had claimed that Newsclick, an Indian news portal, was one of the online publications which was receiving funding from American millionaire Neville Roy Singham for pushing content favourable to the Chinese establishment.

As soon as Gandhi entered the Lok Sabha after his suspension from the House was revoked, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey rose to speak, alleging that the Congress was taking financial assistance from China.

Outside the Parliament, speaking at a press conference at the party headquarters, Union I&B minister Anurag Thakur said the NYT reports confirm “what India has said two years ago.” “In 2021, we exposed NewsClick and how foreign hands were working against India,” Thakur said, citing ED raids on the portal’s office.

“Congress, China, and NewsClick are part of the one anti-India umbilical cord. Chinese goods are being sold in Rahul Gandhi ji’s ‘Mohabbat ki dukaan’,” Thakur said.

Calling it a “complex conspiracy” of a “network of operators”, Union minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that “vested interests” who are opposed to India’s rise are doing it.

“Misinformation is a real danger to our democracy, and every time there is an attempt to rein in misinformation, these platforms jump along with their friends and rally behind the false cover of free speech,” Chandrasekhar said. “A foreign country is actively funding platforms that are launching vitriol against our government, country, society and faith is something we should be wary of.”

In the Parliament, Dubey’s allegations led to a protest from Opposition MPs and Congress floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhry sought to make an intervention under Rule 353. Chowdhury also wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker against the “libellous and defamatory charges against the Congress Party and Rahul Gandhi, a member of the House, without having given any notice”.

Chowdhury alleged that Dubey’s mic was on when papers were being laid in the House. “We demand under Rule 380 that his remarks be expunged in full and that an inquiry be conducted into how such an allegation was permitted to be raised on the record”, the complaint said.