Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: India has the most uncontrollable press, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in response to a question about the low ranking of India on the press index.
During the interactive session on the Foreign Policy of the Modi Government, Jaishankar said on May 7, “I was amazed at our number. I thought we had the most uncontrollable press, and somebody is getting something fundamentally wrong.”
Comparing India’s rank with Afghanistan, the EAM said, “Afghanistan was freer than us. Can you imagine? Look, these are all I mean, I see the democracy index, freedom index, religious freedom index, and press freedom index.”
Terming the press index “mind games,” Jaishankar said that these are the ways of playing the mind games which are like lowering the rank of the country whom you don’t like while others do not.
His statement came days after Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released their press index and ranked India at 161. While Afghanistan stood at 152. China drops to the second-lowest spot on the 2023 World Freedom Press Index, standing at 179th rank. Last year, India stood at 150th rank. This time, India falls 11 ranks.
