New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday yet again singled out an individual anchor and declared that the party spokespersons will not participate in the show hosted by Rahul Kanwal on India Today Television.
The grand old party was miffed at News Director - Aajtak & India Today, for not batting on its behalf against BJP leader Amit Malviya's remark that Congress leaders were assassinated for political decisions they made.
Congress leader and chairman of its Media & Publicity Department Pawan Khera, who announced a similar ban on 14 television anchors last year, posted on X that the party spokespersons would not be participating in the show of Rahul Kanwal.
The matter relates to the assassination attempt on former US president and Republican candidate Donald Trump on Sunday morning (IST) after which Republicans held Joe Biden’s campaigns responsible for the attack.
Biden’s campaign stated that the Constitution would be in danger and there would not be elections any more if Trump won the 2024 Presidential elections.
Biden’s campaign is on the lines of Congress’ campaign in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election.
Additionally, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi made aggressive gestures and statements such as “the youth of this country will thrash PM Modi with sticks after six months” and “the country will burn if BJP wins elections by manipulations”.
BJP cited such references in the context of the attack on Trump and accused Rahul Gandhi of attempting to unleash violence against PM Modi.
Without answering the specific questions about Rahul Gandhi’s language in the campaign, Congress defended BJP’s charge with a usual statement that its leaders were martyred for the country.
In a television show with Rahul Kanwal, Malviya said, “Before the Congress claims that its leaders were assassinated, I want to remind them that they were assassinated for political decisions they took. But even as prime minister, Indira Gandhi's convoy was stoned on several occasions.”
"There have been very unpopular incidents that have happened with both Indira and Rajiv, we condemn that, but the progeny of the Gandhis today is actually wishing death and assault on Prime Minister Modi," Malviya added.
However, Malviya seemed to be unaware of his party's position on Indira Gandhi’s killing which was strongly condemned by the BJP.
Many BJP leaders were themselves targeted by Sikh militants in Punjab and Haryana after her killing.
Individually, some BJP leaders held the view that she died because of her policies in Punjab, which encouraged Sikh militants to sideline moderate Akalis.
The BJP leadership has disassociated from such views.
Along with Malviya, Congress leaders attacked Rahul Kanwal for not batting on behalf of the party.
“The obnoxious remarks made by BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya belittling the martyrdom of former Prime Ministers of India and other great leaders were allowed to go unchallenged by @rahulkanwal on his show televised on July 15.
“The Congress spokesperson was not allowed to complete her counter and was interjected by the anchor.
“To add to that, the anchor himself tweeted and amplified the same remarks from his Twitter handle. On being pointed out, the anchor said his producer had tweeted it.
“This morning I asked him why he had not deleted his tweet. Having waited the entire day, we realise the anchor does not intend to delete or distance himself and the channel from the comment. Clearly, some people have still not understood the meaning of June 4, 2024. We are constrained to announce that we shall not be participating in the show of Mr Rahul Kanwal,” Khera posted on X.
Commenting on Khera’s post, Malviya accused the Congress of bullying Rahul Kanwal.
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