On 22nd November 2023, Dayashankar Mishra resigned from News18. He claimed in his X post that he was forced to resign because he wrote a book on Congress scion Rahul Gandhi. However, after his resignation, many reports citing employees in News18 have accused him of favouritism, casteism, harassment of women at the workplace, unprofessional behaviour and other allegations.
Reports on Bhadas4Media have covered many such accounts of these former colleagues of Dayashankar Mishra. Mishra is also accused of compiling his book using multiple reports from various news media outlets. The News18 has also refuted his claims terming them false and misleading.
In his X post, Dayashankar Mishra wrote, “I had no idea how difficult it would be to write the truth on Rahul Gandhi. At a time when there is a competition for writing stories and mythology in the ruling class, I thought why would it bother anyone to compile and present the thinking, vision and perseverance of a public thinker? But I was proved wrong. It is our job to write and express. But due to this, suddenly the company’s beats increased. I had the option of getting the book back. Keep working. Shut up. But I chose the book. We chose what is our basic task. Chose to tell the truth. Therefore, first the resignation, then the book.”
पहले इस्तीफ़ा, फिर किताब :
— Dayashankar Mishra (@DayashankarMi) November 22, 2023
राहुल गांधी पर सच लिखना कितनी मुश्किलें खड़ी करेगा, मुझे बिल्कुल अंदाज़ा नहीं था। ऐसे समय जब सत्ताधीशों पर गाथा-पुराण लिखने की होड़ लगी हो, मैंने सोचा था कि एक लोकनीतिक विचारक की सोच, दृष्टि और दृढ़ता को संकलित कर प्रस्तुत करना किसी को क्यों… pic.twitter.com/oEroAWRP1i
After this post of Dayashankar Mishra, ‘News18 India’ also shared a post on X. In this post, News18 described Dayashankar Mishra’s post as misleading and baseless. In its post, News18 India said that as per the rules of the company, before writing any book or making any kind of contribution outside the organisation, employees have to get permission. This is how it is in all reputed media institutions. But Dayashankar Mishra, as editor of the Hindi website of News18, did not get permission from the organisation to write this book.
News18 statement about the false and misleading claims by Mr Dayashankar Mishra: pic.twitter.com/Cuo5Jd5LRb
— News18 India (@News18India) November 23, 2023
After Dayashankar Mishra resigned from News18 Hindi, many of his former colleagues came ahead to share their experiences with the journalist, who for all practical purposes had become a political activist singing an ode to Rahul Gandhi. According to reports in the media, Mishra is accused of unprofessional behaviour, harassment of women at the workplace, favouritism, casteism, and cheating on the employer. They have also accused him of plagiarism in his book ‘Rahul Gandhi: Historic Struggle against Communalism, Disinformation and Dictatorship’.
The book is seen as an attempt by the journalist to make inroads to the Congress party rather than his commitment to be a voice of opposition as he claims. He strategically launched the book on 22nd November when the elections were happening in 5 states. However, the book had no impact on the results as the BJP triumphed in the Hindi-speaking states where the former journalist from News18 Hindi was trying to make grounds for Congress.
In various reports published on Bhadas4Media, it is claimed that Dayashankar Mishra favoured people from his caste and his relatives while recruiting new candidates in the News18 Hindi’s digital newsroom. Some of them have claimed that he would favour a certain few. Others have claimed that his book is not an original work and hardly any part is written by himself. They claim that he either used old reports from anti-Modi portals like Newslaundry and Alt News as it is or he deployed some of his juniors for this work. While doing so, Dayashankar Mishra also communicated to his seniors in News18 that these junior colleagues were working on some secret project. Therefore, he is also accused of cheating his employer.
Besides, the reports also claimed that he would often ask his junior employees to do his household work and never pay serious attention to female colleagues requesting him to constitute a committee to probe their allegations against others under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace rules. Some of them even accused him of harassment at the workplace.
As it completes a month to Dayashankar Mishra’s resignation from Network18, it should be noted that despite repeated allegations against him by his former colleagues, no one from the ecosystem of leftist liberal journalists and mainstream media houses has shown the courage to confront him on these issues and ask clarification from him on these allegations.
Instead, his book was promoted on various platforms as he was invited to speak about this book on various web portals and their YouTube channels. This should be seen as a systematic attempt to shield a once powerful boss in the newsroom who continuously threatened his colleagues that they might lose their jobs if they went against him. Dayashankar Mishra’s whole episode should therefore be seen as an eye-opener exposing the dark side of the Left ecosystem that turns a blind eye to serious allegations of misconduct against one of their own while blowing trumpet and resorting to exaggeration against their ideological opponents.
