TimesNow Calls Kerala ‘Thundery Pakistan’, Apologises After Uproar

Covering Amit Shah’s visit to Kerala, Times Now flashed headlines suggesting Shah was visiting Pakistan. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/@AnupamaMohan)

English news channel Times Now on Friday irked not just Keralites but the entire nation by alluding that the Indian state was Pakistan.

While covering BJP President Amit Shah’s visit to the state, Times Now flashed headlines saying Shah was visiting ‘Thundery Pakistan’.

As an Indian and a Malayali, I feel that my inalienable rights as a citizen has been disregarded and disrespected. I request the Chief Minister of Kerala Shri. Pinarayi Vijayan to ask the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to take necessary action against the channel.

Anupama Mohan wrote on<a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155415410072743&amp;set=a.10150543090817743.434886.596177742&amp;type=3&amp;theater"><i> Facebook</i></a>

In her post, Anupama alleged that while this is not actually an insult, the channel had an ulterior motive to promote enmity between the different groups in the state.

Times Now’s mention triggered Twitter rage with people using #ApologiseTimesCow demanding that the channel apologies for the error.

Kerala to Boycott Times Now?

Along with their demand for apology, people from Kerala especially have been calling for boycott of the channel by tagging the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office and asking him to block Times Now in the state.

Times Now’s Ideology Questioned

People also took to Twitter to question whether being a non-BJP state, and a state that has openly opposed beef ban the season behind Kerala being tagged as Pakistan.

Times Now Apologises

The channel, however, after Twitter outrage and demand for apology put out a statement saying they “regret” the error and said that the word Pakistan used in Kerala’s place was an “inadvertent” typo.

Apology statement by Times Now. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/@AnupamaMohan)

Amit Shah is on a three-day visit to Kerala and arrived in the state on Friday.