Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan reacted angrily Monday to media reports of a text exchange between an Indian TV anchor and a former media industry executive that suggests a 2019 Indian airstrike inside Pakistan was designed to boost Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chances for re-election.
Imran Khan took to Twitter to respond to Indian media reports of an exchange on the WhatsApp messaging service between Indian TV anchor Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta, the former head of a TV rating company.
The purported text exchange three days before the airstrike indicates Goswami had prior knowledge of the attack and that it was designed to drum up support for Modi in his re-election bid in pending parliamentary elections.
oswami, a firebrand anchor who is Indian Republic TV’s co-owner and editor in chief, is known for supporting Modi and his nationalist policies.
According to the WhatsApp chat transcript, Goswami texted Dasgupta three days before the Feb. 26, 2019 airstrike, saying “something big will happen” and “On Pakistan the government is confident of striking in a way that people will be elated.”
Dasgupta tells Goswami the attack on Pakistan would give Modi a “sweeping majority” in the upcoming general election.
Months later, Modi surged to a landslide victory in May 2019, propelling his Hindu nationalist party to back-to-back majorities in parliament.
Transcripts of the purported text exchange seen by The Associated Press were filed by Mumbai police as part of a supplementary charge sheet in a different case relating to manipulation of TV ratings.
Neither Dasgupta nor Goswami was available for comment Monday.
But Goswami’s Republic TV issued a statement alleging the Pakistani government was conspiring against his station.
The February 2019 airstrike on Pakistan followed a suicide bombing in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir that month that killed more than 40 Indian soldiers.