Washington Post’s response to BJP leader who targeted Jeff Bezos

Eli Lopez, a senior editor at Washington Post, countered BJP leader Vijay Chauthaiwale's comment regarding the daily's owner, Jeff Bezos' visit to India earlier this week.

Mr Chauthaiwale, claimed that the editing policy of the Washington Post is "highly biased".  To which Lopez tweeted, "Just to clarify: Jeff Bezos doesn't tell Washington Post journalists what to write. Independent journalism is not about charming governments. But there's no question the work of our correspondents and columnists fits within India's democratic traditions."

Mocking Mr Bezos' post, "Dynamism. Energy. Democracy. #IndianCentury" earlier this week, Mr Chauthaiwale -- BJP's foreign policy in-charge -- had tweeted, "Please tell this to your employees in Washington DC. Otherwise your charm offensive is likely to be waste of time and money."

This was seen as a dig at The Washington Post. The daily has published several articles in recent weeks that can be viewed as critical of the Narendra Modi government, including on scrapping of special status to Jammu and Kashmir and the restrictions there as well as the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). 

On December 13 last year, the US daily published an article under the headline "India's new law may leave millions of Muslims without citizenship". Sources say, this and other articles against the citizenship law have deeply upset the government. 

Several BJP leaders and supporters on Twitter have also targeted Washington Post.

"I am not opposing Amazon as a company; in fact, I am a regular customer... Jeff Bezos should go home tell Washington Post what is his impression about India," Mr Chauthaiwale later told Reuters. "The Washington Post editorial policy is highly biased and agenda driven," he added.

The criticism coincided with the Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' India visit that was headlined by a public snub from the government. His announcement of $1 billion investment on his first day in India drew a sarcastic response from Union Minister Piyush Goyal, who said, "It's not as if they are doing a great favour to India." The minister later said his comments had been misunderstood and that "all investment is welcome as long as it is within the law". 

The Amazon CEO, left without meeting any top ministers, after his request for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi was reportedly rejected a month back.