Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, 11 June, condemned Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the arrest of journalists for sharing a video which showed him in bad light.
“If every journalist who files a false report or peddles fake, vicious RSS/BJP sponsored propaganda about me is put in jail, most newspapers/news channels would face a severe staff shortage,” the Congress President quipped.
Hitting out at Adityanath, Rahul said, the UP CM is behaving foolishly and called for the release of the arrested journalists.
BJP Karnataka’s Twitter handle responded to Gandhi’s tweet, citing incidents of journalists being allegedly abused, arrested and charged in Congress-ruled Karnataka. The tweet referred to him as the ‘human version of ‘Hypocrisy’’.
Journalist Santosh Thammaiah was arrested on 12 November 2018, after allegedly speaking against the Karnataka government’s decision to celebrate ‘Tipu Jayanti’.
In May 2019, police had filed an FIR against Vishweshwar Bhat, editor of Kannada newspaper Vishwavani, for publishing a news report that alleged that the Karnataka CM’s son, Nikhil, had verbally abused grandfather Deve Gowda, blaming him for his defeat in the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency, according to PTI.
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also responded to Rahul’s tweet saying, "Instead of working on people's issues, the Uttar Pradesh government is using the 'darr ka danda' (stick/baton of fear) on journalists, farmers and representatives."
An FIR was registered against Prashant Kanojia by a sub-inspector at the Hazratganj police station in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, 7 June, night in which it was alleged that the accused made “objectionable comments against the CM and tried to malign his image.”
Kanojia had allegedly shared a video on Twitter and Facebook where a woman is seen speaking to reporters of various media organisations outside the chief minister's office claiming that she had sent a marriage proposal to Adityanath.
The Supreme Court granted him bail on Tuesday, 11 June.
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