As the Lok Sabha election nears, there is a proliferation in the launch of new newspapers, TV news channels, and online portals. The Congress party and its leaders are pushing huge money in media to spread the left-liberal propaganda. Kapil Sibal, senior Congress leader is all set to come with a new Television news channel named Harvest TV with many members of left-liberal cabal on the board. Harvest TV currently operates in Malayalam under Veecom media limited, the news channel has a license for English Hindi and other regional languages. The license was issued during the previous Congress regime.
Kapil Sibal has earlier played an instrumental role in establishing Tehelka magazine which was well known for hit jobs on BJP leaders and siding with Congress party on all important issues. Tarun Tejpal was later arrested and imprisoned on charges of rape. Shoma Chaudhary, the then editor of the magazine tried to defend Tejpal. Chaudary is currently with Catch news, a left-liberal outfit of Rajasthan Patrika group.
The prominent faces of left-liberal cabal like Barkha Dutt, Karan Thapar will play the lead role in deciding the editorial line of the channel. It is in public knowledge that Barkha Dutt is close to Congress leadership and her name appeared in Radia Tapes controversy. “Dutt’s role in the Radia Tapes did not seem to point to an individual act but an institutional malaise,” said Hartosh Singh Bal, the then editor of Open magazine which brought the tapes in public.
Karan Thapar, a well-established member of Lutyens’ cabal will also join the TV venture which is expected to go on air on 26th January. His family has close links with the Nehru-Gandhi family and he has been a part of the power structure for decades. He was a close associate and schoolmate of Sanjay Gandhi. “I first got to know Sanjay as my sister Shobha’s friend. It was the early 1960s, Daddy was army chief and we were living in Army House on what was still called King George’s Avenue (now Rajaji Marg) in Delhi. At the time, Sanjay was the prime minister’s grandson and studying at St Columba’s School,” wrote Thapar in his biography. He is well known for having a pro-Gandhi family stance and vehement opposition to PM Modi.
Some other prominent faces who are expected to join the channel of Kapil Sibal are Seemi Pasha (ex-India Today) and Vineet Malhotra (ex-Times Now). Punya Prasun Vajpayee, the news anchor who witnessed a much-publicised exit from ABP News could also join the channel.
Gurdeep Singh Sappal, the ex-CEO of Rajya Sabha TV, and advisor to former Vice-President Hamid Ansari has already launched a news channel named Swaraj Express. The channel went on air in November 2018, the group also runs a website named newsplatform.in. Amrita Rai, wife of Digvijay Singh is Managing Editor of the group and Gurdeep Singh Sappal is Editor in chief. Sappal is close to Congress party and most of the top management of the news organization is filled with ex-Rajya Sabha TV employees.
It seems there is desperation in Congress party regaining its lost influence in media. The left-liberal media establishment collaborates with the opposition, mainly Congress which has nurtured and nourished it since the days of state monopoly over media and spreads ruckus. The state monopoly over media ended in last the few decades and now Congress leaders are themselves investing money to control the popular narrative.