'Sinister attempt' made by foreign media to impact Indian elections: Report

New Delhi: A startling report on "massive foreign interference" in India's just-concluded Lok Sabha elections has revealed that "millions of dollars" were spent to impact the voter mindset and set a dangerous narrative around it through an "orchestrated and well-funded plan".

The report, titled 'Invisible hands - foreign interference in Indian elections 2024' and released by Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) organisation DisInfo Lab, stated that as millions of Indians were deciding their future, a section of the global media and academia was planning a sinister plot to influence their decisions with "tireless attack" on everything linked to elections.

"In the past few months, democratic processes and institutions in India including political establishments have come under hostile attacks from the foreign press, academia, and activists. A deliberate effort has been made to push an agenda that undermines the largest democratic process in the world," the report mentioned.

"The extent of this Influence campaign was not restricted to the Western media itself; many Indian conduits were at the forefront and acted like the anvil that was ready to be moulded to any shape," it added saying that "insane number of pages" in the form of articles/op-Eds/ research papers were dedicated to the Indian elections that peaked in the last six months.

"Some of these media outlets had tacit funding, and some were explicit, while few were funded by organisations with dark backgrounds of publishing slant narratives -- e.g. -- from stories based on 'random WhatsApp groups' to creating heroes out of Pak-sponsored stooges," the DisInfo report mentioned.

Asserting that South Asians are not alien to Western media's "colonial hangover" that is reflected in their "editorial bias and supremacist literature", the report details that the commentary on Indian elections had a distinct tone this time with usual suspects and "propaganda powerhouses" making a more coordinated effort with new players on board.

These entities, the report stated, introduced terms like 'Declining Democracy in India', 'Hindu Majoritarianism' and 'Fascism' pushing them into the mainstream discourse whenever a mention about India was made until that became an "accepted pattern for the mainstream media".

The report mentions that besides certain individuals and common agenda, common funding was also something that binded events and activities from outside India in the run-up to and during the Lok Sabha elections.

"Amongst all the noise, a sinister attempt to interfere right at the micro level to impact voter mindset and a dangerous narrative building was being peddled," it said.