&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Some people seemed to take pleasure in frightening the country’: PM Modi slams Opposition for ‘fake news’ during COVID-19, West Asia crisis")
India Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (Aug 15) took a veiled dig at the Opposition over the COVID-19 pandemic and the West Asia crisis, accusing some people of spreading fake news and creating fear and anxiety among the public during times of crisis.
Addressing the nation from the Red Fort on the occasion of the 80th Independence Day, Modi said the world had faced widespread disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic before being confronted with wars in Ukraine and West Asia.
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“The global pandemic had put the entire world in a state of concern. All systems had been disrupted. We came out of COVID, and then news of the devastation caused by wars began to emerge - somewhere in Ukraine, somewhere in West Asia. There was an atmosphere of tension everywhere", PM Modi said.
The Prime Minister said “some people" had resorted to spreading fake news and creating panic during the crises, claiming that such predictions had added to public anxiety. “And who knows what the so-called forecasters made all predictions. Some people seemed to take pleasure in frightening the country, keeping the country fearful and anxious. ‘There will be no vaccines, people will not survive COVID, nothing will happen.’ When the West Asia crisis came, they said, ‘There will be no petrol at petrol pumps, no gas, no diesel, no fertiliser, he said.
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Modi further accused those spreading such claims of deliberately keeping people in a state of fear. “By spreading all kinds of rumours, some people seemed to take pleasure in frightening the people of India and keeping them immersed in fear and anxiety", PM Modi said.
Earlier, the Prime Minister hoisted the national flag at the Red Fort in New Delhi. The flag hoisting was synchronised with a 21-Gun Salute by the gunners of the 1721 Field Battery (Ceremonial).
