Deccan Herald was pulled up by principal director of the Press Information Bureau, Jaideep Bhatnagar, after the English daily criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies.

On May 13, Deccan Herald had quoted Modi under its “Speak Out” section, which satirically criticises quotes from prominent people by juxtaposing them with other quotes: “Last eight years of my service to the nation from Delhi (as PM) were dedicated to good governance and welfare of the poor.”

Below this, the paper carried this quote by the author CS Lewis: “Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”

Additionally, the paper listed a series of contested decisions taken by the Modi government like demonetisation, the Covid lockdown, electoral bonds, and fuel price hikes.

In a letter to the editor on May 14, Bhatnagar slammed the paper for “misleading” its readers by the juxtaposition of the two quotes. “The two statements are surely unrelated even though by their juxtapositioning, you seem to mischievously and falsely convey some sort of contextual congruity between them,” he contended, adding the newspaper had “deliberately” listed out the decisions to “give it a misleading and false narrative”.

Responding to Bhatnagar, the paper said “Speak Out” was not a factual news report but rather an “irreverent take” on statements, and that it should be treated like a cartoonist’s art. It added, “The ‘list of events’ that you refer to itself makes it clear that the irreverence/opposition sought to be expressed subjectively is to specific policies and not to the person or office of the Prime Minister.”