Fake Forward About Anthony Blinken Criticising S Jaishankar Revived

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An old WhatsApp forward is viral again falsely claiming that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken publicly criticised External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar over the attacks on Christians in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit the United States from June 21 to June 24, 2023. The message claims that Blinken questioned Jaishankar that while Hindus in the US were one percent of the population there were no attacks on Hindu temples whereas in India there were anti-conversion laws specifically targetting Indian Christians in ten states. The viral message reads, "INDIAN EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER DR. JAISANKAR WAS SOMEWHAT SHOCKED AND PUZZLED TO HEAR THE STATEMENT FROM THE U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN ABOUT THE MINORITY PERSECUTION IN INDIA FOR THE FIRST TIME."

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We did not find any public statements by Blinken where he targeted Jaishankar and called him out or the BJP-ruled government directly. BOOM previously debunked the same message back in February 2023. We searched on Google with the keywords mentioned in the viral forward and did not find any credible reports which cited any of the conversations mentioned in the forward or any such exchange between Jaishankar and Blinken. On two occasions back in April 2022 and June 2022, Blinken had mentioned the rising attacks on people and places of worship in India, however, in none of these public statements did he single out Jaishankar like the forward claims.

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Fake Forward About Anthony Blinken Criticising S Jaishankar Revived

BOOM found that the statements attributed to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken criticising External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in the viral forward are fake.

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