A BJP leader's swipe at Jeff Bezos, cold-shouldered by the government during his India visit earlier this week, has triggered a sharp retort. "Jeff Bezos doesn't tell Washington Post journalists what to write," a senior editor at the publication owned by the Amazon CEO tweeted, in response to a post by BJP leader Vijay Chauthai wale who has alleged that the newspaper's editorial policy is "highly biased".

"Just to clarify: Jeff Bezos doesn't tell Washington Post journalists what to write. Independent journalism is not about charming governments. But there's no question the work of our correspondents and columnists fits within India's democratic traditions," Eli Lopez tweeted. Scoffing at Mr Bezos's "Dynamism. Energy. Democracy. #Indian Century" postearlier this week, Mr Chauthaiwale - BJP's foreign policy in-charge - had tweeted, "Please tell this to your employees in Washington DC. Otherwise your charm offensive is likely to be waste of time and money. It was seen as a dig at The Washington Post which has published several articles in recent weeks- viewed as critical of the Narendra Modi government - including on scrapping of special status to Jammu and Kashmir and the restrictions there as well as the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). On December 13 last year,the US daily published an article under the headline "India's new law may leave millions of Muslims without citizenship". Sources say this and otherarticles against the citizenship law have deeply upset the government.Washington Post has also been targeted by several BJP leaders and supporters onTwitter.

"I am not opposing Amazon as a company, in fact I am aregular customer... Jeff Bezos should go home tell Washington Post what is hisimpression about India," Mr Chauthaiwale later told news agency Reuters."The Washington Post editorial policy is highly biased and agendadriven," he said.

The criticism coincided with Jeff Bezos's India visit thatwas headlined by a public snub from the government. His announcement of $1billion investment on his first day in India drew a sarcastic response fromUnion Minister Piyush Goyal, who said: "It's not as if they are doing agreat favour to India." The minister later said his comments had beenmisunderstood and that "all investment is welcome "as long as it iswithin the law". The Amazon CEO, whose request for a meeting with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi was reportedly rejected a month back, left withoutmeeting any top minister.