US newspaper Ad against PM Modi: Know who is the mastermind behind malicious WSJ advertisement campaign

American newspaper Wall Street Journal recently published a malicious ad propagated allegedly by some fugitives who are facing investigations in India. The advertisement not only named 11 Indians including ministers, bureaucrats and judges but also accused the Narendra Modi government of destroying the institutional framework of India.

Now, according to some Twitter handles that dig deep into this nasty campaign, the ad was published by an influential anti-India group in collaboration with money laundering accused and fugitive economic offender Ramachandran Viswanathan. He was former CEO of Devas group.

Kanchan Gupta, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, said in a tweet, "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."

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Gupta further added, "Vishwanathan is a declared fugitive economic offender in #India. India’s Supreme Court has ruled that his firm Devas was involved in corruption. This is not a campaign against Modi Govt alone. It's a campaign against the Judiciary. It's a campaign against India’s sovereignty."

Another user pointed out that the 'two Supreme Court judges, V. RamaSubramanian & Hemant Gupta, mentioned in the list in this vicious ad, had upheld the NCLT/NCLAT order against Devas.' "One can safely assume that Judge Chandra Shekhar also didn't exactly please Devas & hence features in the list," he said.

The two Supreme Court judges, V. RamaSubramanian & Hemant Gupta, mentioned in the list in this vicious ad, had upheld the NCLT/NCLAT order against Devas. One can safely assume that Judge Chandra Shekhar also didn't exactly please Devas & hence features in the list. https://t.co/4kAQPcGBPB — Me (@semubhatt) October 15, 2022

The advertisement carries the footprint of ‘Frontiers of Freedom’ as its  sponsor. The Frontiers of Freedom is headed by a person named George Landrith who is often seen spewing venom against India. The allegations by Landrith echoes the petition by Devas’ Viswanathan who demanded sanctions against the 11 Indians under US's Magnitsky Act. In one of his tweets, Landrith even tagged independent journalists Rana Ayyub and RN Bhaskar. Rana Ayyub is already under the Enforcement Directorate's scanner for misuse of funds raised during Covid.

The bottom line is this: If @NSitharaman, @BJP4India & @NarendraModi really believe that foreign investors will continue to ignore the abuse and harassment committed by the Indian gov’t, they are mistaken…@RanaAyyub @rnbhaskar1. — George Landrith (@GLandrith) October 12, 2022

Viswanathan, a US citizen of Indian origin, has been at loggerheads with the Indian government over the Antrix-Devas scam.