Women’s Press Club has been taken to task not for being a women’s club but for being a pro-Pakistan body

The government of India, on August 5, 2021, issued an eviction notice cancelling the allotment of accommodation provided by the government to the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC). The order states that the accommodation has been cancelled as the tenure of the allotment of the house had expired in January this year. The government also asked IWPC to pay their outstanding dues immediately. This came after their ill-advised decision to host Pakistani diplomats.

“We have sent a notice to IWPC asking them to vacate the government accommodation. They have been asked to pay their outstanding dues,” the official said.

The notice was issued by the directorate of estates, which falls under the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry. Located at Windsor Place in New Delhi, the accommodation was allotted to the Press Club on May 13, 1994, which had expired on January 6, 2021. Thus, the government claims that the allottee has already overstayed in the premises by over eight months.

The official, however, pointed out that the allotment may be extended further if the outstanding dues are paid.

Soon after the order, left organizations and the opposition began spreading misinformation and formed their own narrative, which can be summarized under the label of attack on women journalists, attack on feminism, and many more.

The decision came after when IWPC hosted a dinner party for the Pakistani diplomat. A few days back, IWPC had organized a farewell party for the Pakistani diplomat who is assumed to be an ISI recruiter.

However, few netizens came out in the support of the decision and took to Twitter to applaud the Modi government for the same. A Twitter user Harshal Badiyani tweeted, “Women’s Press Club has been asked to vacate govt accomodation and to pay dues worth 30 lakh immediately after they organized fairwell/welcome party to Pakistani diplomats aka ISI recruiters. Bold step by modi govt! Make Pakistan their new accomodation if they don’t pay dues.”

Another Twitter user Mayank Jindal also came out in support of the decision and tweeted, “Excellent #BreakingNews: Modi Govt cancels allotment of Govt Bungalow to the “Indian Women Press Club.” This decision was taken after IWPC hosted a #Pakistan Diplomat for dinner. Democracy khatre me? Murder of Democracy?”

IWPC, which claims to advocate for woman’s rights and protection of female journalists and support them to move ahead in the future, didn’t seem to perform their duties for a while now. When pro congress supporter and former NDTV reporter Barkha Dutt was fighting her case against Kapil Sibal and his wife Promila Sibal over the compensation amount of 74 lakhs, no one from IWPC came in support of her. Dutt had also accused Kapil and Pramila Sibal of using offensive language against female staffers.

She tweeted that the Sibals wanted to use Prime Minister Narendra Modi “as an excuse” to lay off staff, blaming him for the channel’s short run. “Government of India has done nothing. Husband and wife have not faced staff, went on holiday to London, while shutting shop, prompting me to call him Mallya,” she tweeted.

IWPC also went numb over the issue when ANI journalist Joymala Bagchi, as well as Republic TV journalist Pooja Prasanna, were attacked. The organization chose to shut its mouth once again when Priyanka Gandhi got pushed by the unruly crowd during a candle march led by Rahul Gandhi at India Gate to protest against the rape incidents in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh and Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir.

IWPC, which has been encashing the facilities under the government funds, have a record of almost zero work done for the rights of women journalists. Moreover, the organization hosted a party for Pakistani diplomats who are known ISI recruiters. In addition to that, the organization has overstayed in the accommodation for eight months with an outstanding due of around Rs 30.3 lakh as of June 30 this year. In a nutshell, the decision of the eviction notice to IWPC cannot be considered as an attack on women journalists and the media but a move against the pro-Pakistan, elitist and entitled group.