NEW DELHI, Aug. 2 -- The union ministry of external affairs has told the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom that it finds it "unacceptable" that "totally unfounded remarks were allowed to be made" against India at a conference on media freedom jointly organised by the two countries last month in London. In a letter to the union minister of information and broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar, Union minister of external affairs S Jaishankar said the issue of allowing "unwarranted remarks" by one of the speakers was taken up with the high commission of both the countries. HT has seen a copy of the letter. At a global conference on media freedom, on July 10 and 11 in London that was attended by diplomats, politicians, academics and journalists, the executive editor of Caravan magazine Vinod K Jose referred to incidents of lynching as evidence of religious intolerance against India's minorities. His submission was vehemently countered by Prasar Bharati chairman, A Surya Prakash who was also present at the meet. Prakash said the inferences made by Jose were incorrect. He subsequently submitted a report to Javadekar, pointing out that he took strong exception to the choice of speaker made by the organisers as the allegations made in the presentation were "a direct assault on India's democracy, credibility and the working of the Constitution". Prakash questioned whether by allowing such a presentation, the organisers were trying to question the "massive mandate" by the people of India for the Narendra Modi government. "I am pained by the decision of the organisers to have given a platform for such a blatantly antiIndia presentation. I don't think anyone is furthering the cause of democracy by running down the most vibrant democracy in the world," Prakash said. Reacting to the allegations, Jose told HT; "I was invited by the UK government to speak on a panel on 'Religion and Media, the Untold Story' for a Global Conference in London in July. While presenting the India story, I showed video grabs of lynch attacks on and targeted killings of people from minority faith and Dalits. Prasar Bharati chairman, who is also a senior advisor of Vivekananda International Foundation, a thinktank associated with the RSS, sitting from the audience called my speaking the facts an assault on India's democracy." "I'm not surprised at this since he represents a growing opinion in India that lynching is not condemnable and be stopped, but talking about it must be stopped. As a journalist it is my duty to speak truth to power, and as an RSS associate, it might be his duty to defend the organisation."...