The INDIA bloc on Thursday announced a list of 14 television news anchors whom it intends to boycott, vowing that no representatives from the Opposition alliance’s parties will appear on the shows and events helmed by these anchors. The BJP deplored the move, with party president J.P. Nadda blaming it on an “Emergency era mindset”.
In its first meeting on Wednesday, the INDIA coordination committee had authorised its working group on media to draw up the list. The boycott applies only to the specific anchors and does not extend to their organisations. The blacklisted anchors are: Aditi Tyagi, Aman Chopra, Amish Devgan, Anand Narasimhan, Arnab Goswami, Ashok Shrivastav, Chitra Tripathi, Gaurav Sawant, Navika Kumar, Prachi Parashar, Rubika Liaquat, Shiv Aroor, Sudhir Chaudhary, and Sushant Sinha.
‘Emergency era mindset’
“The Emergency era mindset is alive among these parties,” Mr. Nadda said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “I.N.D.I Alliance should stop their antics immediately. They should instead focus on constructive work and serving people. Else, the path to obscurity will get even clearer,” he added. The INDIA bloc has been busy doing just two things, “bashing Sanatan Sanskriti [and] bullying the media”, he said.
The BJP chief claimed that the history of the Congress has “many instances” of bullying the media and silencing those with differing views. “Pandit Nehru curtailed free speech and arrested those who criticised him. Indira [Gandhi] Ji remains the Gold Medal winner of how to do it – called for committed judiciary, committed bureaucracy and imposed the horrific Emergency,” he charged. “Rajiv [Gandhi] Ji tried to bring the media under state control but failed miserably,” Mr. Nadda alleged, adding that the “Sonia [Gandhi]-led UPA” had banned some social media handles “simply because the Congress did not like their views.”
In a statement, the BJP said that issuing such a list was a “direct threat” to the media, adding that they were being gagged for speaking the “truth”.
