To be honest, the Congress is at a complete loss of words ever since PM Modi decided to go for a no holds barred interview with ANI Editor Smita Prakash. Unlike the mollycoddling that the left liberals resort to with the members of the Nehru Gandhi dynasty, Smita Prakash not only grilled PM Modi on some of the most burning questions concerning his Prime Ministerial year tenure but also ensured that the interview was anything but an eyewash.
PM Modi was also in full form in this interview. Not only did he make his stance clear on Sabarimala and Ram Mandir issue, but he also replied boldly to other questions. Stung by his impressive interview, Congress and its left-liberal cronies, like sore losers, tried to discredit the interview on the same lines of The ‘Accidental Prime Minister’ trailer.
Congress leaders tried everything to discredit the interview as farcical. But it was Congress President Rahul Gandhi who took the cake in terms of being the shallowest.
Not only did Rahul Gandhi try to declare the interview a farce, but he also labelled Smita Prakash, the journalist who quizzed PM Modi, as a ‘pliable journalist’, i.e. a journalist who has questionable credentials, and can be easily influenced.
This is not the first time that anybody who has interviewed PM Modi has faced such horrible insults from the opposition. We all know the tags the left liberals have given to journalists like Sudhir Chaudhary and Rahul Shivashankar for interviewing the PM. Besides, Smita Prakash is way too experienced in such heckling, having faced such bullying from self-declared liberals like Pratik Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha before.
Curiously, the Editors Guild of India, like in the case of Vinod Dua, stayed conspicuously silent for a long time. This wasn’t surprising, given that the left-liberal journalist and head of The Print, Shekhar Gupta is the President of the Guild. After the furore on social media, the Editors Guild finally came out with a statement.
Editors Guild reacts to @RahulGandhi critifising @smitaprakash pic.twitter.com/WrzIHdLxi8
— Smriti Kak (@smritikak) January 3, 2019
While Rahul Gandhi’s name is mentioned just once in this statement, his attack is brushed off as mere ‘criticism’ and in some twisted way, it has been justified. However, not so surprisingly, given it is the Editors Guild, after all, the entire blame is squarely laid on the BJP and it is quite eloquently justified. This sham of a response does not even befit to be called a rebuke to the real offender, Rahul Gandhi. It is, undoubtedly, a fine piece of propaganda and a glowing demonstration of where the loyalties of Editors Guild lie. This is something the ‘Charan-Bhats’ of the days of yore would be jealous of.
If there ever was a time for the media to prove that it is different from the sycophants bowing down to the shrine of ’10 Janpath’ and prove that it actually has a spine independent of the back support the ‘Tughlaq Lane’ provides, this was it. By shirking this responsibility, Editors Guild has failed journalism.