Bihar’s Chief Minister and a prominent figure in the opposition alliance known as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A), Nitish Kumar, stated on Saturday that he does not endorse any bans on journalists.
He expressed his lack of awareness regarding the INDIA bloc’s decision to boycott journalists and emphasised his support for the media profession. “I have no idea about this…I am in support of journalists. When everyone gets full freedom, journalists will write what they like. Are they controlled?
Have I ever done it? They have rights, I am not against anyone,” CM Kumar said. “If journalists have full freedom, they will write what they like. Everyone has their rights,” the Bihar chief minister said.
“Right now those who are at the Centre have controlled a few people…,Those who are with us must have felt that something is happening. However, I am not against anyone,” the Bihar Chief Minister said rubbishing the BJP’s allegations of rift inside the opposition alliance. The INDIA group made a list of 14 TV hosts they won’t join in discussions on Thursday. This caused an argument, with the BJP saying it’s like the Emergency period when the Congress tried to silence the media.
A Congress leader named Pawan Khera said it’s not really a ban or boycott, but more like choosing not to cooperate. He explained that the 14 journalists on the list aren’t being stopped from saying what they want, but the INDIA parties decided together not to appear on the TV shows hosted by these anchors. He added that if these journalists change their ways and start doing better for the country, INDIA parties might join their shows again. A spokesperson for the BJP, Shehzad Poonawalla, said Nitish Kumar openly disagreed with the journalists’ boycott and called it a mistake. He also mentioned that many others within the INDI alliance are against this decision by the Congress, comparing it to an emergency order. Poonawalla pointed out that the Samajwadi Party didn’t follow this decision and appeared on these shows just minutes after it was made. The list of the 14 journalists includes Aditi Tyagi, Aman Chopra, Amish Devgan, Anand Narasimhan, Arnab Goswami, Ashok Shrivastav, Chitra Tripathi, Gaurav Sawant, Navika Kumar, Prachi Parashar, Rubika Liaquat, Shiv Aroor, and Sudhir Chaudhary.
