In ‘Operation 136’ by Cobrapost, purported senior media managers are shown agreeing to run Hindutva campaign in return for crores in cash.
New Delhi: News portal Cobrapost Friday released a series of videos — called Operation 136 — that show several media houses agreeing to push the Hindutva agenda through a planned and dedicated campaign in return for payments.
ThePrint is not naming the media houses until it receives responses from them on the allegations.
The website said that in its sting operation, journalist Pushp Sharma met purported senior people in managerial positions in the media groups and asked them to run a campaign favourable to the BJP and spread the message of Hindutva ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections.
According to the videos and a press statement from Cobrapost, all of them agreed to carry out the agenda in return for payments ranging between a few crores of rupees to as much as Rs 500 crore.
“However, there were two notable exceptions — Bartaman Patrika and the Dainik Sambad. Both refused to play ball. No amount of cajoling or inducements could bring them around,” the portal mentioned.
According to Cobrapost, Sharma, in the sting operation, floated the idea of promoting Hindutva through customised religious programmes for the first three months, then use speeches of Hindutva hardliners such as Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti and Mohan Bhagwat to polarize the voters. The next step would be to target opposition leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav.
The deal was to run the campaign on all platforms – print, TV, radio and online, including e-news portals, websites and social media such as Facebook and Twitter, the portal said.