ABP journalists quit, opposition creates ruckus in Parliament

The resignation of the two senior journalists from a Hindi channel has created an uproar in the Lok Sabha on Friday. Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge attacked the BJP-ruled government for forcing the scribes to put in their papers, as they spoke against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The two journalists of ABP news, editor-in-chief Milind Khandekar and senior news presenter Punya Prasoon Bajpai, resigned from the channel, citing reasons that they are being pressurised not to report anything against PM Modi or ruling BJP government.

Taking the matter into consideration, Kharge accused the government of trying to curb the freedom of press in the country. He was also of the opinion that fundamental rights are being violated to appease the BJP ministers. Speaking in the Lok Sabha he said, “There have been several instances of the government trying to stifle the media in the past few years. Especially when they try to do a ‘Reality Check’ of government’s views. That’s when they are intimidated, threatened… if there is no freedom of speech, how can we speak?”

Refuting the allegations, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore alleged that though ABP ran incorrect news report, the government never took any action on them, reports NDTV. He said, “The channel he is talking about ran a wrong story. Despite that, the government did not issue a show-cause notice. If the government wanted to interfere, it would have because the Free Dish (state-run satellite TV service) belongs to the government’.”

Rathod suspected that this might have taken place because of the falling TRPs, not government pressure. He said, “The government has nothing to do with this. This channel – their TRP (television rating points) is falling rapidly because people don’t want to see them anymore. And they are blaming the government.”

Earlier, Bajpai’s famous show “Masterstroke” went blackout when he reported a news about Modi government’s ‘false claims’ of doubling income of a farmer family in Chhattisgarh. Rumours say, following the incident, he had a tiff with the news anchor and had to resign.