Author of Time article Pakistani, maligning Modi's image: BJP

The BJP on Saturday slammed American news magazine Time, which featured Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the cover of its international edition dated May 20 with the headline "India's Divider in Chief", 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 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.

Patra said Pakistan's only agenda was to malign the image of Modi at any cost, as he has conducted two surgical strikes in the neighbouring country.

"Pakistan can not touch a hair of the Indian Army or Modi and that's why it is trying to malign the Prime Minister's image by writing such articles," Patra said, adding that Modi was a unifier, not a divider.

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.

The article also recalls the 2002 Gujarat riots that claimed many lives.

--IANS

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