What is the controversy over the report published regarding 'phone call' between American lobby firm and Indian officials?
A controversy has erupted between senior officials of the Government of India and the White House over a news published in the media regarding 'arranging a phone call' in May-June this year.
The report said American lobbying firm SHW Partners LLC had arranged for several phone calls between the White House and Indian officials.
On this, opposition leaders targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said, "The situation has become so bad that PM Modi needs a lobbying firm even to talk to his 'friend, Donald Trump'."
However, the Fact Check team of the Ministry of External Affairs has refuted a post made by a journalist on this issue, calling it misleading.
What is the whole matter?
Indian Express has published a report. It said that SHW Partners LLC, in a document filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of the US, has said that it arranged eight phone calls between senior officials of the Indian government and the White House during May-June this year.
The head of this American lobbying firm is Jason Miller.
The report said that these conversations were focused on India-US relations and the firm described them as part of "political activities".
According to the report, India had signed a contract with Jason Miller's SHW Partners LLC till April 2025, which was extended for another year in April this year. However, this contract expired on June 23 as Jason Miller joined the Trump administration as a special government employee.
This report states that before Marco Rubio's visit to India in May, a phone conversation was held between several senior officials of the Indian government and the White House. These included US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, Deputy National Security Advisor Michael Needham and Under Secretary of State for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Jean Lange.
Subsequently, the report mentions further high-level contacts between the Indian government and the US administration following Marco Rubio's visit to India in June.
According to an Indian Express report, after Donald Trump was re-elected as President, the Indian Embassy in Washington DC hired the services of two major lobbying firms, which were headed by people considered close to Trump.
The second firm was Mercury Public Affairs, which was hired on a retainership of $75,000 per month. The firm's core team included Brian Lanza, who served as communications director on Trump's transition team.
After the publication of this report, senior journalist Seema Chishti made a post on Instagram.
While fact-checking this post, the Fact Check handle of the Ministry of External Affairs wrote on
Senior journalist Suhasini Haider of The Hindu, while retweeting the fact check handle of the former Ministry of External Affairs, wrote, "How misleading is this, is it normal to arrange talks with the White House through a lobby firm? All former diplomats say that lobby firms usually help in functioning and networking on (Capitol) Hill, while talks on matters related to bilateral relations happen at the level of government officials."
What did the opposition leaders say?
Congress has targeted PM Modi in a tweet. Congress wrote on Twitter, "Modi was getting Trump to post praise for him by paying him. This has been revealed by an American lobbying firm named Mercury Public Affairs itself. This firm was hired by the Modi government on a salary of 75 thousand dollars per month."
Meanwhile, TMC MP (Mamata faction) Mahua Moitra said, "The truth has come out. When Donald Trump tweets good things about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is because we, the Indian taxpayers, have given money to an American lobbying firm for this! Thank you for paying attention to this matter."
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Kheda wrote on Twitter, "The situation has become so bad that Modi needs a lobbying firm even to talk to his 'friend, Donald Trump'."
But the reality is that every time Trump describes Modi as his “very good friend”, “true friend”, “good friend” or “great friend”, there is a price to be paid. And Modi pays this price by paying lobbying firms with Indian taxpayers' money.
