Aaj Tak anchor Anjana Om Kashyap created a storm when she compared Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Yuva Sena is the youth wing of Shiv Sena. “Ye Shiv Sena ka Rahul Gandhi saabit hoga, likhke rakh lijiye (He’s going to be the Rahul Gandhi of Shiv Sena, take it in writing),” Kashyap could be heard saying in the background during an event.
My remark on Aditya Thackeray which is being spread with malice was out of lapse of judgement. I regret it. This, by no means, reflects the views of the channel or the network.
— Anjana Om Kashyap (@anjanaomkashyap) September 21, 2019
Later Kashyap regretted the remark, saying it was a lapse of judgement. She tweeted that her remark was being spread with malice.
Now, a Congress leader, Kumar Raja, a former president of the NSUI, the Congress party’s student wing, has issued a violent threat against the journalist. He called her a sold-out journalist and said that if any such comment is made against their own leader, then it will receive a befitting response. He said that she will be beaten if necessary.
Rahul Kalate, a leader of the Shiv Sena, has condemned the incitement to violence made by the Congress leader. He said that Rahul Gandhi speaks of love in politics in his rallies and yet here was a Congress leader threatening a journalist with violence. He said a more hypocritical party than the Congress could not be found.
.@RahulGandhi अपनी रैलियों में प्यार की राजनीति की बात करते हैं, और उनके युवा नेता महिला पत्रकार की पिटाई की तैयारी कर रहे है। कांग्रेस पार्टी जैसी ढोंगी पार्टी पूरे ब्रह्मांड में नही मिलेगी। https://t.co/EAV8TuFI6P
— Rahul Kalate (@Rahul_Kalate) September 22, 2019
This is not the first time that the Congress party has lashed out at journalists and tried to stifle their right to report. Journalist Shiv Aroor had claimed that Congress leader Surjewala had called up her superiors to complain about his “political leanings”. Earlier, another India Today journalist, Gaurav Sawant’s family was targeted by Congress aligned trolls. On another occasion, he too was forced to delete some tweets that did not align with Congress establishment’s views.
Veteran Congress leader Kapil Sibal had also threatened to sue OpIndia for an investigative report that sought answers about his financial dealings and had exposed his U-turn from the answers he had provided for the same to South African journalists. Not too long ago, a journalist was heckled at the Congress headquarters after being called a ‘Modi Bhakt’.
