On Tuesday (3 October), following the early morning raids by the Delhi Police on several ‘journalists’ and staff of leftist media portal NewsClick, the Congress party came out in support of the portal under scrutiny for alleged links with China. The official X handle of the Congress party said the raids over Chinese funding indicate that PM Modi is scared and nervous. Presenting the developments as an assault on the free speech of dissenters, the grand old party accused PM Modi of harassing opposition leaders and journalists who “speak the truth”.
The Congress’ party official handle stated, “PM Modi is scared and nervous. Especially from those people who question him on his failures. Be it opposition leaders or journalists, those who speak the truth will be harassed. Today again the raid on journalists is proof of this.”
PM मोदी डरे हुए हैं, घबराए हुए हैं।
— Congress (@INCIndia) October 3, 2023
खासतौर से उन लोगों से जो उनकी विफलताओं पर, उनकी नाकामियों पर उनसे सवाल पूछते हैं।
वो विपक्ष के नेता हों या फिर पत्रकार, सच बोलने वालों को प्रताड़ित किया जाएगा।
आज फिर से पत्रकारों पर छापेमारी इसी बात का प्रमाण है।
This comes following the early morning developments as on 3 October, Delhi Police raided several locations in connection with the online portal NewsClick. The home of television journalist turned YouTuber Abhisar Sharma was one of the places seized by the Delhi Police in connection with the Newsclick matter. As reported, the places of several journalists associated with Newsclick, including Sanjay Rajoura, Bhasha Singh, Urmilesh, Prabir Purkayastha, Abhisar Sharma, Aunindyo Chakraborty, and Sohail Hashmi have been raided by the police.
Apart from Congress’ official Twitter handle, several Congress leaders also rallied behind the accused journalists of NewsClick, lamenting that these actions are autocratic.
The Chairman of the Media and Publicity Department of Congress, Pawan Khera claimed that the raids by the Delhi Police in connection with illicit Chinese funding are being conducted to distract the attention from the Caste Census report released in Bihar.
He said, “The early morning raids on contributing journalists at Newsclick comes as a fresh distraction from the explosive findings of caste census in Bihar and the growing demand for caste census across the country. When he faces questions from out of syllabus, he resorts to the only counter he has in his predictable syllabus – DISTRACTION.”
The early morning raids on contributing journalists at Newsclick comes as fresh distraction from the explosive findings of caste census in Bihar and the growing demand for caste census across the country. When he faces questions from out of syllabus, he resorts to the only…
— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 (@Pawankhera) October 3, 2023
Regarding these developments, the Congress leader Digvijaya Singh lamented, “Sad this is happening in a free democratic country.”
Sad this is happening in a free democratic country. https://t.co/VuapddY1qw
— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) October 3, 2023
Senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari claimed that dictatorship has arrived in the country.
#WATCH | Delhi: On Delhi Police conducting raids at different premises linked to NewsClick, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari says "I feel that dictatorship has come… This is a message from the BJP to all the journalists. We are in support of free journalism. We strongly condemn these… pic.twitter.com/mld4VBCQ30
— ANI (@ANI) October 3, 2023
Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor raised questions on the democratic credentials of India and the moniker “mother of democracy”. He claimed that the arrests of some Newsclick journalists don’t reflect the actions of a “mother of democracy”. He accused the government of being intolerant and disgracing democracy.
Taking to X, Tharoor wrote, “Shocked to learn of the raids on 30 journalists in Delhi and arrests of several of them. These are not the actions of a “mother of democracy” but of an insecure and autocratic state. Why does a government as strong & authoritarian as this one is, feel threatened by a news website? And that too, one that is not even ranked very high in reach or readership? Intolerance is unworthy of everything that India represents. The government has disgraced itself and our democracy today.”
Shocked to learn of the raids on 30 journalists in Delhi and arrests of several of them. These are not the actions of a “mother of democracy” but of an insecure and autocratic state. Why does a government as strong & authoritarian as this one is, feel threatened by a news…
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 3, 2023
Following the actions on Newclick for alleged links with China, the old Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between CCP and Congress and similar other instances have begun to surface on social media.
Congress’ alleged connection with China: MoU with CCP, funds to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and more
The Congress party’s kid-glove treatment of China and the soft condemnation, that too on rare occasions, against the Communist nation has time and again raised eyebrows as to know why the principal opposition party has been soft towards the hostile neighbour of the country.
It is being said that the close connections between the Congress party and the CPC may be one of the reasons why the principal opposition party chose to remain mute in attacking the Chinese and instead has been unleashing all its attacks against its government and backing the journalists who are alleged of taking funds from China to do their bidding in India.
One of the main reasons for the Congress Party’s peculiar stance regarding China stems from the 7 August 2008 agreement between the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress Party and the Communist Party of China (CPC).
During UPA1 in 2008, the Congress Party and the Communist Party of China (CPC) signed an MoU in Beijing to exchange high-level information and cooperation between them. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) also provided the two parties with the “opportunity to consult each other on important bilateral, regional and international developments”.
The 2008 MoU between CCP and Congress came at a time when the Left parties in India had expressed a lack of trust in the UPA-1 government led by Congress.
Not just the MoUs, but the close relationship between the Chinese leadership and the Congress party, especially Rahul Gandhi came to the fore a few years ago during the Doklam stand-off when Rahul Gandhi was caught secretly meeting Chinese officials.
Apart from that, back in 2020, details about the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation’s (RGF) monetary operations emerged. OpIndia had previously published detailed pieces about the Chinese government’s financial contributions of more than Rs 1 crore to RGF since 2006.
Instead of condemning global bully China and its nefarious adventurism, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had on several occasions expressed his admiration for China openly. In his controversial speech at Cambridge Judge Business School in March this year, Rahul Gandhi showered praises on China hailing it as an ‘aspiring superpower’ and ‘force of nature’ adding that China harbours ‘social harmony’. The Gandhi scion had also lauded China’s controversial Belt and Road initiative.
-Urmilesh was appointed the first Editor of Rajyasabha TV by Gurdeep Sappal
— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) October 3, 2023
-Gurdeep Sappal is in Congress now
-Congress signed a secret MoU with China
-Urmilesh is working with Chinese funded Newsclick
Connect the dots! Was it part of that MoU?
Its not abt Freedom of expression, Its abt sovereignty of our Country
— STAR Boy (@Starboy2079) October 3, 2023
Even small to small country in the world will not compromise with its sovereignty
NewsClick is accused of taking bribe from China n working against India
Why Congress ecosystem is rattled so badly ? pic.twitter.com/TLtkxI5fL2
Highlighting the controversial pasts of the Congress party and its connections with China especially the MoU with CCP, social media users have noted that they are not surprised by Congress’ stance on action against Chinese-funded journalists and presenting it as an assault on democracy.
