On 7th September 2023, India Today held a live debate on their show ‘To The Point’. In this show, India Today’s anchor Preeti Choudhry and Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai heckled the Bharatiya Janata Party’s spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala. Preeti Choudhry discourteously shouted at him and misquoted his words while Rajdeep Sardesai lost his mind and took personal jibes at the BJP leader calling him a ‘low level’. Preeti Choudhry – the anchor of the show – also said that Shehzad Poonawala is on the debate to get cheap popularity.
The debate was about the yet undisclosed agenda of the upcoming special session of the parliament called on 18 September 2023.
In his X post, Shehzad Poonawala accused Rajdeep Sardesai of misbehaving with him off the camera after the debate while leaving the studio.
Continued interruptions
Throughout the debate, Shehzad Poonawala was interrupted when he started to talk. When he would give a rebuttal to the interruption and come back to the original point of discussion, he was denied time to put his views citing that only he was talking continuously. Preeti Choudhry and Rajdeep Sardesai both interrupted Shehzad Poonawala multiple times and did not allow him to complete the original issue he was addressing after he answered the objections raised by them.
Rajdeep Sardesai in the opening remarks was allowed ample time to put his position that the Narendra Modi government in the centre had violated the conventions if not the rules of the constitution or the parliament while calling the session. He contended that it has been the tradition of the parliament to communicate the agenda of the session seven days before the session date. After Rajdeep Sardesai completed his talk, Shehzad Poonawala asked at the very beginning of his rebuttal that he expected no interruption by anyone. However, Rajdeep Sardesai interrupted him within a few seconds.
‘Two-minute fame’ and ‘Low Level’ jibes
As the discussion was heated by repeated interruptions by Rajdeep Sardesai Shehzad Poonawala countered him for every point he raised. But before Poonawala could complete his point, anchor Preeti Choudhry cut his talk in between and tried to take the debate ahead. When Shehzad Poonawala objected to this, Preeti Choudhry said that he had come to the show for ‘two minutes of fame’. Shehzad Poonawala cleared that he goes only to the debates where his party sends him to put the stand and Preeti Choudhry’s show would be the last place he would go to seek the two minutes of fame she was talking about.
Preeti Choudhry started shouting at Shehzad Poonawala after this fierce rebuttal. At the same time, Rajdeep Sardesai called him ‘low level’. Shehzad Poonawala, during this debate, had pointed out that if Rajdeep Sardesai is quoting the convention of disclosing the agenda of the session seven days prior to the session date, the upcoming special session was 11 days away and he could wait as the parliamentary affairs minister will communicate it at an appropriate time. Rajdeep Sardesai then shifted his stance and said that it was expected that the agenda be shared at the same time the session was announced, and claimed that it has been the convention so far.
Misquoting Shehzad Poonawala at the end of the debate
During all the heated talks, Preeti Choudhry also discourteously showed Shehzad Poonawal a ticking stopwatch when he asked for a proper time to answer the interruptive claims by Rajdeep Sardesai. She also said that her show is very small and if Shehzad Poonawala continues to talk any further ‘he is welcome to leave the debate’. Concluding the show, she said that the BJP spokesperson has asserted that his party will share the agenda of the upcoming session 7 days before the session starts and the accountability of the same lies with him; whereas Shehzad Poonawala had nowhere said so in the debate.
He was just bringing it to Rajdeep Sardesai’s notice that what he calls the convention of communicating the agenda to various parties before the session commencement is generally told a week before the session. Besides, Shehzad Poonawala had quoted many occasions when Congress governments did not share the agenda till the session started. However, Preeti Choudhry misquoted Shehzad Poonawala at the end of the debate. It is notable that none of the two India Today ‘journalists’ objected to Sanjay Jha calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a fascist and dictatorial during Jha’s short turn which he could get because of the continuous interruption of the two and Shehzad Poonawala’s quick rebuttal to their interventions in between.
Shehzad Poonawala calls out India Today’s chief
Shehzad Poonawala took it to X and posted the whole video with a detailed description of the events in the caption. He also asked India Today’s chairperson Aroon Purie and India Today’s news director Supriya Prasad a few questions. He wrote, “Dear Aroon ji, 1) Can your journalist, for any reason, call me cretin and low level? Let us assume I am completely wrong- even then is this justified? Is it a crime for me to keep the version my party trusts me to? 2) Can your anchor say I am here for two minutes of fame when my party has chosen to send me? The same anchor does not stop Sanjay Jha once for making the most despicable comments on PM Narendra Modi but if I defend my party and leader I am abused? 3) Can your anchor twist my words and misquote me blatantly at the end? 4) If somebody interrupts every fifteen seconds and I call out their pro-Congress tilt. Is this what is being justified by abusing and shouting at me? Merely because I wish to factually rebut allegations thrown at my party?”
Putting the entire debate I had this evening on @IndiaToday out- no edits, no cuts- full debate. Do watch & see
— Shehzad Jai Hind (@Shehzad_Ind) September 7, 2023
THE DEBATE ENDED WITH ABUSES HURLED AT ME BY @sardesairajdeep – CALLED ME CRETIN, LOW LEVEL
Here’s what happened..
1) Despite me requesting @sardesairajdeep to let… pic.twitter.com/d3Q0uWLmh3
In this post, Shehzad Poonawala also accused Rajdeep Sardesai of misbehaving with him off the camera. He wrote, “After the debate, when cameras go off, Rajdeep hurls abuses at me- calls me a cretin and low level. (Shouts at me along the hallway and elevator even as I tell him I do not wish to talk) – I am sure other cameras have captured this. Rajdeep in the past has asked Sambit Patra to shut up, allowed Supriya Srinate to call me a goon on national TV and justified it. (Videos are available)”
Preeti Choudhry wrote on her X handle, “A heartfelt apology to the viewers of – To The Point – sadly today we became what we despise – a shouting match! For those few who do watch our ‘very small show’ regularly, you do know this is not how I conduct my debates – we live.. we learn but I also promise always to stand up and stare down a bully! Cause that’s the only way I know.” Without naming Shehzad Poonawala, she called him a bully when actually it was Preeti Choudhry who was shouting at him and raising her voice in the guise of moderating the debate.
A heartfelt apology to the viewers of – To The Point – sadly today we became what we despise .. a shouting match! For those few who do watch our ‘very small show’ regularly 🙂 you do know this is not how I conduct my debates – we live.. we learn but I also promise always to…
— Preeti Choudhry (@PreetiChoudhry) September 7, 2023
Shehzad Poonawala’s post was reshared by many X users exposing how India Today’s ‘journalists’ ganged up to bully the BJP spokesperson. However, no clarification in this regard is given by the chairperson or the news director of the media group.
