HYDERABAD: Condemning an article on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in TIME magazine’s recent issue, calling him ‘Divider in Chief’, BJP national manifesto sub-committee member Karuna Gopal said it was ‘nothing but a motivated attempt to influence the political landscape of the country’.
Tearing up copies of the magazine’s cover along with other party leaders such as Syed Shahzadi on a stage in the city on Friday, she said nationwide protests against the article vindicated BJP’s stance on the matter.
“The article has taken one instance of mob lynching and applied it to the entire nation,” said Gopal.
The BJP leader noted that though a counter to the article had been written by the same magazine, about Modi’s economic reforms, it was not ‘Pro Modi’. “Articles previously written in the same magazine had presented facts and were authentic, unlike its recent issue,” she said.
Karuna Gopal also raised questions over the timing of the article. “All of a sudden you have negative articles about Narendra Modi. Several schemes spearheaded by the government are not being considered,” she said.
BJP, she said, is planning to ‘file a PIL’ and launch a nationwide protest, starting from Hyderabad.
“Modi is not a divider. Schemes introduced under his leadership did not target any particular caste of religion. If you see housing schemes in North East India, a lot of beneficiaries have been Christians. In Bhendi Bazaar of Maharashtra, the location of a redevelopment project, a majority of the population is Muslim. Modi is a unifier, integrator and harmoniser,” she said.
