nagpur union information and broadcasting minister anurag thakur has said the indian media is strong enough and has the capability to set narrative across the world some foreign media houses carried false reports about india during the covid19 pandemic and this agenda of spoiling the countrys image was not only being run from outside the country but many indian leaders used that opportunity for their selfinterests thakur alleged on sunday he said indian media was independent in the past and will remain so in the future as it is today thakur was speaking at the lokmat national media conclave on the topic is indian media completely polarised the media conclave was organised to mark the birth centenary of freedom fighter and lokmat media groups founder editor jawaharlal darda fondly known as babuji as well as the golden jubilee of the lokmat nagpur edition addressing a gathering of journalists and intellectuals thakur said on part of the government i can assure that indian media was independent earlier it is independent today and will remain so in future also it is nobodys intention to nail someone but a question arises when some political parties use a huge proportion of their budget for their own welfare and selfpraise rather than for the development and welfare of people the effect of all this is sometimes seen in news reports when eight to nine newspapers carry identical headlines and it happens not once but 50 times he said thakur attacked some foreign media houses for their coverage during the covid19 pandemic saying dead bodies flowing in the ganga river and lying on its banks were shown in reports these reports were not true but a large number of media houses without checking facts ran those reports this does not spoil only one persons image but spoils the image of the entire country and this agenda and propaganda is not only being run from outside the country but many leaders from india also used this opportunity for their selfinterests he said during the pandemic some political leaders raised question marks over indian anticoronavirus vaccines the minister said i am not questioning their thinking but questions arise whether they were doing this for political benefits or marketing for some foreign company he said thakur praised prime minister narendra modi for introducing two indian anticoronavirus vaccines and providing 220 crore doses for free in the country did anyone discuss those news reports which claimed that crores of people will die in the country during covid19 and its economy will suffer he asked someone said during the conclave that narratives in india are set by foreign countries but however they foreign countries may try our actions speak for themselves and they were proven wrong their narratives did not affect us he said he dubbed as wrong the questions raised by delhi chief minister arvind kejriwal over the educational qualification of pm modi in 2016 senior bjp leaders had given information about the educational degrees of pm modi but this