Journalist Aman Chopra was on Monday threatened with dire consequences by the chief spokesperson of Peace Party, Shadab Chauhan, after he weighed in on the threat received by journalist Ashok Shrivastav from Arun Rajbhar, National General Secretary of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party(SBSP), an ally of Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.
Taking to Twitter, Chopra shared the picture of the threat he had received from Chauhan. The Network 18 editor tweeted that the threat issued by opposition leaders have gone a few notches and now they are openly threatening that dissenters won’t be spared. “After #KishanBharvad their threat needs to be taken seriously. The difference is that earlier they used to plan secretly, now they openly talk about killing,” Chopra tweeted.
'कोई नहीं बचेगा इंशाल्लाह'
— Aman Chopra (@AmanChopra_) January 31, 2022
ये लीजिए @AshokShrivasta6 जी ये एक क़दम आगे निकल गए। ये तो कह रहे हैं 'कोई नहीं बचेगा इंशाल्लाह'#KishanBharvad के बाद इनकी धमकी को seriously लेने की जरूरत है।
फर्क ये है पहले ये छिप कर प्लानिंग करते थे, अब खुल कर मारने की बात करते हैं। pic.twitter.com/09gbzT7ZM3
“All will be treated, no virus will be spared, Insha Allah,” Chauhan had replied to a tweet by Aman where the latter pointed out the hooliganism of the Samajwadi Party and its allies even when they are not in power.
Quoting a tweet posted by Ashok Shrivastav, who shared a screenshot of a tweet from Arun Rajbhar wherein he threatened the journalist of beating him up, Chopra tweeted, “The point to be noted here is that it is not in power yet, only then the matter is limited to ‘beating’ only.”
DD News journalist Ashok Shrivastav threatened by SBSP leader for writing against an assault on another journalist
In his tweet, Shrivastav said, “Today Akhilesh Yadav’s security personnel beat up a journalist, I wrote against it, OP Rajbhar Ji’s son Arun Rajbhar Ji threatened to beat me up.” He further urged Home Minister, UP Police and Election Commission to take action against Rajbhar. “Please take action in this matter. This is an attack on the media on journalists,” he added.
आज #Akhilesh_Yadav के सुरक्षाकर्मियों ने एक पत्रकार को पीटा, मैंने इसके विरोध में लिखा तो @oprajbhar जी के बेटे @ArunrajbharSbsp जी ने मुझे पीटने की धमकी दी। @HMOIndia @Uppolice @ECISVEEP कृपया इस मामले में कार्यवाही करें। ये पत्रकारों पर मीडिया पर हमला है। pic.twitter.com/UbIBEKzI7H
— Ashok Shrivastav (@AshokShrivasta6) January 30, 2022
Rajbhar, whose party is an ally of the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the upcoming UP Assembly elections, in the now-deleted post, had said, “Journalists like you should be thrashed. You should get a reward for the bootlicking.”
Rajbhar’s threat was in response to a tweet posted by Shrivastav where he had condemned the incident in which Akhilesh Yadav’s bodyguards had thrashed journalist Khalid Chaudhary. He had said, “When SP was in power, journalist Jagendra was burnt alive for writing against a minister. Today, bodyguards of Akhilesh Yadav thrashed journalist Khalid Chaudhary in front of him. New SP or same SP?”
The tweet had irked opposition politicians, including Rajbhar, who responded with a threat stating that Ashok should be thrashed as well.
Akhilesh’s bodyguard thrashed journalist
On January 29, during a press meet, journalist Khalid Chaudhary was thrashed by the bodyguards of former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav when he was trying to ask questions. In the video, the journalist could be heard saying, “Don’t thrash me”, but the bodyguards and SP workers kept pushing him.
This was not the first time journalists were thrashed in Yadav’s presence. In March 2021, a ruckus broke out between a group of journalists and the supporters of Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav at a hotel in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. During the ruckus, a reporter named Fareed Shamsi (identified as the one with a dark blue shirt) took a severe blow to his nose from Yadav’s security guard’s rifle. He was also pushed aside by a Samajwadi party supporter, who stood adjacent to him.
