It is not a secret that mainstream media largely remains silent about corruption and controversies of the AAP government in Delhi, and lies of AAP leaders are never exposed by media houses. It has been widely believed that the lack of negative news of AAP in media is directly related to massive spending by the AAP government on advertisements published in newspapers and TV channels. Now, journalist and AAP founder Ashutosh has confirmed this.
Participating in The Roundtable With Priya Sahgal program on the NewsX channel, Ashutosh made explosive revelations, while discussing the topic ‘decoding the Gujarat campaign’ for the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat. He said that the moment some media house publishes any negative news about AAP, advertisement to that media house is immediately stopped by the AAP government and the AAP-dominated Delhi assembly initiatives proceedings against such media house in some pretext. Ashutosh also said that while PM Modi is accused of manipulating the media, Arvind Kejriwal is actually better in that regard.
While talking about Arvind Kejriwal hogging the headlines, Ashutosh said that AAP is known for all kinds of advertisements, as the party has learnt techniques of media management from PM Narendra Modi. Ashutosh said, ‘I can talk from my own experience. In Delhi, if you talk to any local Hindi newspapers or English Newspapers, all the editors will shut up. They are so scared of him (Arvind Kejriwal), and they will not publish any anti-Arvind Kejriwal story on the front page’.
The journalist turned politician turned journalist further said, “(if they publish anti-Kejriwal story), literally the very next day either the advertisement is withdrawn, or by some pretence, the assembly committee will call them and will hold them up. So it’s very excellent management in that sense, and after winning Punjab, I think they are also pumping a lot of money in terms of media management, and controlling in that sense.”
Ashutosh said that Narendra Modi is unnecessarily blamed for such things when there are other players who do the same thing. “And they are even better in that sense,” he added. Ashutosh said that he will not name editors, but if one talks to them off the record, they will tell what is happening in Delhi.
The journalist noted that while Arvind Kejriwal has projected himself as an alternative to Narendra Modi, the fact is that the party does have a single MP in Lok Sabha. He also said that the party is all about Kejriwal, the reason why it has failed in parliamentary and municipal elections in Delhi.
What Ashutosh said about using advertisements to arm-twist media can easily be verified by the fact that the Aam Aadmi Party is known for saturation ad campaigns in print and electronic media. The party and its government in Delhi often release full-page ads in all major newspapers across India, in all editions. The party also broadcast ads on TV channels in such frequency that it becomes irritating for viewers. On several occasions, Delhi govt campaign advertisements appeared on TV several times in an hour, on several news channels.
Ashutosh was one of the founding members of AAP, and was part of the party’s highest decision-making body, the political affairs committee. But he resigned from the party in 2018, citing ‘personal reasons’. His resignation came after he was not chosen for Rajya Sabha elections by AAP in that year.
In 23 years of my journalism, no one asked my caste, surname. Was known by my name. But as I was introduced to party workers as LOKSABHA candidate in 2014 my surname was promptly mentioned despite my protest. Later I was told – सर आप जीतोगे कैसे, आपकी जाति के यहाँ काफी वोट हैं ।
— ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) August 29, 2018
Later he accused the party leaders of indulging in caste politics. He said that his surname was prominently displayed by the party during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, where he had contested from Chandni Chowk. He said that the party used his surname in the campaign despite his opposition.
Ashutosh had also said in his 23 years of journalism, nobody asked him his surname and caste, and it was his own party that tried to exploit his surname for political benefits.
