Days after two eminent journalists of a TV channel quit their jobs, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday alleged the Modi government was behind their resignation and that the Centre was killing independent media in the country.
In a tweet, Kejriwal said: “Free media is life-line of democracy. But Modi government is hell-bent to kill independent media. The resignation of two eminent TV journalists from ABP News in two days is another proof. Media should rise now, otherwise it will be too late.”
Within two days, ABP’s editorial head Milind Khandekar and anchor Punya Prasun Bajpai have resigned from the channel and the ABP’s flagship show, ‘Masterstroke’ is taken off.
In one of its shows, it had covered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interaction with a Chhattisgarh woman who claimed her agricultural income had doubled after she switched from paddy to ‘sitafal’ farming.
A report broadcast by Masterstroke later interviewed the same woman, who claimed that officials from Delhi had ‘tutored’ her before her interaction with the Prime Minister to falsely claim that her income had doubled.
As the news spread widely on Twitter, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore slammed the media organisation and questioned its journalistic ethics.
Days later, viewers complained that they were facing difficulties in watching the programme because of ‘disturbance and blackouts.’
