Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on Sunday that India’s personal attacks on him would not solve the problems facing New Delhi or restore Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “pitifully crumbling” reputation at home and abroad, especially after what he described as Pakistan’s victory over India last year.
Responding to Indian propaganda in a post on social media platform
In his message, the defense minister also referred to criticism from Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and a recent article in British newspaper The Guardian, saying both had called into question the credibility of some of Modi’s awards.
“Prosecuting me will not solve the problem. Calling me mentally unstable will not bring stability to Modi’s pitifully crumbling reputation, both at home and abroad, especially after his defeat in Pakistan last year,” he wrote.
“Rahul Gandhi says the same thing about Modi’s awards: they are AI-generated or self-directed to project an image as a global statesman. This has actually cemented his reputation as a global crook.”
“Even The Guardian, a reputable newspaper, reported the same issue and questioned the credibility of these awards,” he added.
He said Modi’s desperate measures to import false laurels from abroad are an attempt to stabilize a reputation that is “pathetically unstable at home”.
The day before, citing the British newspaper’s investigation, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Defense Minister Khawaja Asif had accused Modi of turning international recognition into a carefully staged public relations exercise.
Modi’s trophy cabinet has come under uncomfortable scrutiny after the investigation questioned the origins of several foreign honors bestowed upon him, some of which were little more than last-minute creations thrown in before his visits.
The British newspaper reported that the most recent award presented to Modi in the Seychelles was made just three days before his arrival, while the accompanying certificate contained spelling errors and showed indications that it may have been generated using artificial intelligence.
The report further states that this trend extends beyond Seychelles, pointing out that the Israeli parliament had introduced the Knesset Medal shortly before Modi’s visit last month, making him its first and only recipient, while the Philip Kotler Presidential Award, given to Modi in 2019 as an annual global leadership honor, has not been awarded to anyone else since.
On Saturday, Khawaja Asif had also questioned the circumstances surrounding the awards ceremony.
