"Need to tell stories of a new India": British journalist praises country's diversity and growth journey

New Delhi: Lauding the "new India", Sam Stevenson, Assistant Editor of the UK-based newspaper Daily Express, emphasised on Sunday that it is time to start telling the positive stories of this new India on its epic trajectory to become a USD 5 trillion economy in the future.
On his visit to India to cover the general elections, Sam Stevenson said that there are a lot of positive stories that can be told from India.
"It's time to start telling the positive stories of new India and of this great nation on its epic trajectory to becoming a USD 5 trillion economy in the future. And look, there's loads and loads of positive stories that we can be telling from India, and that's what we're here to do," Stevenson told ANI.
Responding to a question about whether India in real life is different from the picture painted by the West, the journalist stressed that enough with India bashing down.
"I think it's time to say, enough with India bashing down with the anti-India 'Bakwas'. We need to come here and tell the true, positive stories of New India on the ground reporting," he told ANI.
Stevenson further highlighted that people have been hearing things like religious divisions, but that's not what is on the ground.
"Unfortunately, a lot of the narratives that exist in London and across Europe are negative stories about India. We're hearing things like religious divisions, but that's not what we've witnessed on the ground," he said.
Calling India a "great and wonderful nation," he said that he is here to level up the British media's coverage of this nation.
"We have seen Muslim women in full burqas attending Narendra Modi's rally. We've seen examples of the pluralism of this great and wonderful nation. We're here to level up the British media's coverage of this nation. And we're here to get to the truth, find some real facts and bring them home to London," he said.
Stevenson continued that the perceptions of India across Europe and the West are not good.
"This is because we are being fed negative stories from the press," he stressed, adding that "it is a shame because, actually, people need to come here, see it with their own eyes, live it, breathe it, meet the people, speak to people on the ground, and you will be seeing that, new India, global Britain, we can be a force for good," he said.
The British journalist emphasised that the two countries have shared culture, language, heritage, and history.
"The British media are attempting to simplify something that's very complicated. They're saying Modi is anti-Islam. But actually, when you get on the ground and speak to real Muslims, when you speak to Hindus, Sikhs, you will see that India is accepting of all cultures or religions," he stressed.
"And that is the absolutely fantastic thing about this place," he added.