In a surprise move, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) teamed up with a group of investigative journalists and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on “deep state” elements in the State Department and the US to destabilize India. accused of trying to
The allegation is surprising as New Delhi and Washington have built strong ties over the past two decades and both have vowed to strengthen ties despite some differences and irritations.
The ruling party said on Thursday that Gandhi’s Congress party used the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) articles to undermine the Adani Group and Modi “only” on its alleged closeness to the government. Focused”.
The group’s chief, Gautam Adani, and seven others were indicted last month in the US for being part of a $265 billion scheme to bribe Indian officials – charges the group has described as “baseless”.
The OCCRP articles also allege that state-sponsored hackers in India use Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to target government critics.
The government has earlier denied both the allegations.
The BJP has earlier accused Gandhi, OCCRP and 92-year-old billionaire financier-philanthropist George Soros of attacking Modi.
On Thursday, he cited a French media report that said the OCCRP was funded by the US Agency for International Development and “other deep state figures” such as Soros.
“The deep state had a clear objective to destabilize India by targeting Prime Minister Modi,” the BJP said in a series of messages on X.
“The US State Department has always been behind this agenda … OCRP has served as a media tool to push a deep state agenda,” she said.
BJP national spokesperson and lawmaker Sambat Patra repeated the allegations at an official media briefing by the party on Thursday.
“A French investigative media group has revealed that … 50% of OCCRP’s funding comes directly from the US State Department,” Patra said. “OCRP has served as a media tool to advance a deep state agenda.”
The State Department, USAID, Soros and the congressional party did not immediately respond to requests for comment. India’s Ministry of External Affairs also did not respond to a request for comment on the ruling party’s allegation against the State Department.
OCCRP said in a statement that it is an independent media outlet and is not affiliated with any political party.
“The US government, while providing some funding to OCCRP, has no control over our editorial process and our reporting,” she said.
The government has recently faced heat over the US indictment of Gautam Adani, who opposition leaders say Modi has always protected, and the country’s parliament was suspended several times last week as opposition lawmakers had demanded a discussion on the matter.
Modi’s BJP and Adani have denied the allegations.