Hyderabad: In a major blow to the BJP government at the Centre, noted US business daily, The Wall Street Journal, has featured a full-page advertisement against Prime Minister and 11 others including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for “decline in the rule of law” it said has “made India a dangerous place to invest”.
The full-page ad 'WANTED: Modi's Magnitsky 11' named Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Antrix Corp Chairman Rakesh Sasibhushan, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Supreme Court judges Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian, Special PC Act Judge Chandra Shekhar, CBI DSP Ashish Pareek, Enforcement Directorate’s Sanjay Kumar Mishra, ED Assistant Director R Rajesh, Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman, and ED Deputy Director A Sadiq Mohamed.
“These Modi government officials have decimated the rule of law by weaponizing the institutions of the state to settle scores with political and business rivals making India unsafe for investors,” read the advertisement. “We have asked the US government to impose economic and visa sanctions against them under the Global Magnitsy Human Rights Accountability Act,” it said while referring to the 2016 Act under which the US government can sanction foreign government officials deemed to be human rights violators.
The WSJ ad claimed that “Under Modi, a decline in the rule of law has made India a dangerous place to invest. If you are an investor in India, you might be next,” it added. While the sponsors of the ad were not immediately known, reports said that the ad was run by Ramachandran Viswanathan, former CEO of Devas, the subject of a money laundering investigation.
“Shameful weaponization of American media by fraudsters. This shockingly vile ad targeting #India and its Government appeared in @WSJ. Do you know who is behind this and similar ads? This ad campaign is being run by fugitive Ramachandra Vishwanathan, who was the CEO of Devas," Kanchan Gupta, senior advisor, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, wrote on Twitter.
