France's Mediapart Slams BJP For Using Its Report To Spread ‘Fake News’ (image/mediapart.fr)

French investigative journalism outlet Mediapart on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of distorting its reporting and “wrongly exploiting” its article to spread “fake news.” This comes days after the saffron party accused the US State Department of instigating disaffection against the Indian government and cited Mediapart while making the accusations.

In the parliament, the BJP cited Mediapart’s reporting on investigative media network, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), to raise accusations against Congress and its leaders of targeting PM Modi with the alleged support from US billionaire George Soros and the US State Department.

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“Mediapart firmly condemns the instrumentalisation of its recently published investigative article about OCCRP by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in order to serve BJP’s political agenda and attack press freedom,” said Mediapart’s publisher and director Carine Fouteau in a statement.

Fouteau asserted that the party was spreading fake news that they never published. “There are no facts available supporting the conspiracy theory promoted by BJP.”

The French news outlet also extended its “full support to the courageous Indian and international journalists who report and investigate in India.”

Notably, the OCCRP has published several investigative reports about the alleged financial misconduct by the Adani Group.

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The BJP lawmakers criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha for allegedly colluding with OCCRP and Soros in a bid to “destabilise” the Modi government. The party also published several posts on social media platform X that directly accused the US State Department of being involved in the conspiracy, as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) gave funds to OCCRP.

During a press conference on Thursday, BJP MP Sambit Patra also reiterated the claims.

On Saturday, the US embassy in India called it “disappointing that the ruling party in India would make these kinds of accusations.”

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Mediapart, since 2018, has published several reports alleging corruption in the Modi government’s purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from French manufacturer Dassault Aviation. Most recently, it accused New Delhi of obstructing a French judicial inquiry into the corruption claims on the Rafale deal from December 2023.

The Modi government and the BJP have denied the allegations.