Whenever there is an FIR against leftist portals like TheWire, the media establishment makes a hue and cry about how the BJP ruled states are muzzling freedom of the press. But, in the last few years, the opposition ruled states have constantly attacked two most popular journalists of Indian media who are not sympathetic to their cause. These two journalists are Sudhir Chaudhary of Zee News and Arnab Goswami of Republic TV.
In the last few years, ‘freedom of the press under attack’ has become a key phrase for the left-liberal media establishment and opposition parties. The Congress government repeatedly reminds us about the lowly ranking of the country in the Freedom of the Press Index, which ranks India behind Islamic countries and failed states, without questioning the credibility of the watchdog’s methodology.
It has been a few days since the Maharashtra government registered an FIR against Arnab Goswami and Mumbai Police harassed him and his Chief Financial Officer through hours-long investigations after Goswami was attacked by two Congress workers. Now, the CPM-led Kerala government has registered an FIR against Sudhir Chaudhary under non-bailable sections.
Here’s my Pulitzer Prize for reporting the truth.Sharing the citation— an FIR filed against me by the Kerala police under nonbailable sections.The award for exposing inconvenient facts.A clear msg for media.If u don’t toe the decades old pseudo-secular line you’ll be behind bars. pic.twitter.com/zV3GvNg2YR
— Sudhir Chaudhary (@sudhirchaudhary) May 7, 2020
The complaint against Sudhir Chaudhary was filed by Advocate P Gavas, the state joint secretary of the All India Youth Federation (AIYF), the youth wing of the CPI in Kerala, for a show aired on Zee News in which the anchor explained different types of Jihad, and Kerala government was quick to go ahead with the FIR. In the show, which aired on March 11, Sudhir Chaudhary explained how members of the Muslim community are waging ‘Land Jihad’ in many cities like Jammu, and this has rattled beyond redemption the left-liberal pseudo-secular establishment.
#DNA : जम्मू, ज़मीन और जेहाद#ZameenJihad @sudhirchaudhary pic.twitter.com/lVqROQguga
— Zee News (@ZeeNews) March 11, 2020
“The programme that this channel telecast is not rooted in a system that we believe in. We acknowledge and believe in the constitutional obligations towards all religions and the secular values of this country. This programme stands in stark contrast to such beliefs. It is against a particular religious community,” said Gavas.
Read: As Sudhir Chaudhary exposes Zameen Jihad in J&K, deadly fire breaks out in Lutyens’ media circle
Sudhir Chaudhary has been constantly harassed by leftist parties including Congress, AITC, and CPM. It is unforgettable how the Congress government harassed him after the then party MP Naveen Jindal filed an FIR.
Previously, in 2016, the Mamata Banerjee government registered an FIR under non-bailable sections against Sudhir Chaudhary for covering the Dhulagarh riots. “Just to inform all of you Mamta Banerjee Govt has filed an FIR against me and ZeeNews reporter Pooja Mehta and cameraperson Tanmay Mukherjee for covering Dhulagarh Riots on Zee News,” wrote Chaudhary in a Facebook Post.
I must salute my colleague Pooja Mehta for her courage and guts. She is just 25&got the taste of Mamta's
Intolerance so early in life. https://t.co/9jMDbFeTn8— Sudhir Chaudhary (@sudhirchaudhary) December 27, 2016
A democratically elected Govt using police to curb the media which shows riots story against its wishes?So undemocratic!Whats the message??
— Sudhir Chaudhary (@sudhirchaudhary) December 27, 2016
The left-liberal media establishment and the leftist parties which cry about media freedom are not so tolerant towards the people who are not sympathetic to their cause, and do not bend the knee to suit their political agenda.
In the last few days, the Congress governments in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra have registered FIRs against Arnab Goswami and he was questioned for more than 12 hours by Mumbai Police and his CFO, who has nothing to do with the incident given the fact he deals with financial matters, was also questioned for more than 10 hours. And now, encouraged by what Mumbai Police did to Arnab Goswami, Kerala Police has gone ahead to do the same to Sudhir Chaudhary. So much for freedom of speech.
I must remind you that the whole left-liberal media establishment, portals which cry about freedom of the press every other day, watchdog's which claim to be non-partisan, and 'independent journalists', have not written anything on FIR against Sudhir Chaudhary in CPM led Kerala.
— Amit Agrahari (@Amit_Agrahari94) May 10, 2020
And so far, the whole left-liberal media establishment, portals which cry about freedom of the press every other day, watchdogs which claim to be non-partisan, and ‘independent journalists’, have not written anything protesting the FIR against Sudhir Chaudhary in CPM-led Kerala.
The message from opposition parties is very clear, the journalists who are not sympathetic to their cause would be harassed, and at the same time, these parties would cry foul about BJP led governments taking action against seditious islamists and communists, because they are well-known hypocrites. Sudhir Chaudhary and Arnab Goswami are their main target as both of them are the most popular journalists of the country in Hindi and the English language media respectively.
