Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on Sunday that India’s personal attacks against him would not solve the problems facing New Delhi or restore Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “pitiful crumbling” reputation at home and abroad, especially after what he described as Pakistan’s victory over India last year.
Responding to Indian propaganda in a post on social media platform X, Asif said attacks against him were an attempt to divert attention from issues surrounding Modi’s international image and the credibility of foreign honors bestowed on the Indian prime minister.
In his post, the defense minister also referred to criticism from Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and a recent report by British newspaper The Guardian, which said both had questioned the credibility of some of the awards given to Modi.
“Coming after me does not solve the problem. Calling me mentally unstable will not bring stability to Modi’s pitifully crumbling reputation both at home and abroad, especially after he took a beating from Pakistan last year,” he wrote.
“Rahul Gandhi says the same thing about the awards given to Modi – that they are AI-generated or self-administered to project a global statesman image. It has actually enhanced his reputation as a global fraud.”
“Even The Guardian, a reputable paper, flagged the same issue and questioned the credibility of these awards,” he added.
He said Modi’s desperate measures to import fake laurels from abroad are an attempt to stabilize a reputation that is “pathetically shaky at home”.
A day earlier, citing the British newspaper’s investigation, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Defense Minister Khawaja Asif had accused Modi of turning international recognition into a carefully staged PR exercise.
Modi’s trophy cabinet came under uncomfortable scrutiny after the inquiry questioned the origins of several foreign honors bestowed on him, some of which were little more than last-minute creations rolled out ahead of his visit.
The British newspaper reported that the latest honor presented to Modi in the Seychelles had been established just three days before his arrival, while its accompanying certificate contained spelling errors and showed indications that it may have been generated using artificial intelligence.
The report further said the pattern extended beyond Seychelles, pointing out that Israel’s parliament had introduced the Knesset medal shortly before Modi’s visit last month, making him its first and only recipient, while the Philip Kotler Presidential Award, presented to Modi in 2019 as an annual global honour, has not been awarded to anyone else since.
On Saturday, Khawaja Asif had similarly questioned the circumstances surrounding the awards.
