News channel NDTV and its controversial journalist Barkha Dutt are often alleged to be close to the Congress party and its leaders, so when a Congress spokesperson attacks an NDTV journalist alleging bias against the party, it sounds hilariously absurd.
The same happened earlier today on Twitter when social-media-user-turned-Congress-spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi accused Barkha Dutt of ‘making a valiant attempt to save Prime Minister Narendra Modi from being investigated in the Sahara and Birla diaries’.
Priyanka was most probably referring to Barkha’s tweets where she argued that Sheila Dixit – Congress leader and party’s Chief Ministerial candidate in the upcoming UP assembly elections – was being made a scapegoat by the Congress, for Dixit’s name also features in the documents Rahul Gandhi claims as a proof of Narendra Modi accepting bribe.
It should be noted that Supreme Court has found those documents unreliable and refused to accept them as credible proof warranting further investigation. However, Rahul Gandhi has been repeating his allegations in election rallies. In absence of legal support, what Congress needs is media support that repeats Rahul Gandhi’s charges without cross questioning the same.
Perhaps Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi trusted NDTV to play that role, but was saddened to see Barkha Dutt taking a different, though not opposite, line. Priyanka, though, specifically mentioned and praised NDTV’s Ravish Kumar for doing what the party wanted.
So essentially the grouse against Barkha Dutt was not about ‘saving’ Narendra Modi from investigations – because courts, not media, will decide if further investigations need to be undertaken after fresh evidences, if any – but it was about not helping Rahul Gandhi.
Barkha didn’t look amused with such allegations where a colleague was being praised more than her for helping the Congress party. She tagged the official Twitter handle of the Congress in her response, an act that was virtually termed ‘childish’ by Priyanka Chaturvedi.
But was it a real fight? Are two friends turning foes? Not many on Twitter thought so:
This coordinated salsa between Congress and Barkha to regain legitimacy is becoming quite hilarious https://t.co/r6QQ9HPbj8
— Nupur (@UnSubtleDesi) December 26, 2016
