New Delhi: The opposition INDIA bloc Thursday announced a list of 14 news anchors it has decided to blacklist. Essentially, this means that none of the 38 parties that make up the alliance will send its representatives on shows or debates hosted by these anchors.
Since the announcement, INDIA received flak for its ‘Emergency-like’ decision from the concerned news anchors, the News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“We will stay away from these TV shows because we don’t wish to legitimise the hate-filled narrative spewed by these anchors,” Congress leader Pawan Khera, part of the INDIA media sub-committee, said to ThePrint.
The blocked anchors include Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV; Rubika Liyaquat, anchor at Bharat24; Sudhir Chaudhary, Chitra Tripathi, Gaurav Sawant, and Shiv Aroor of India Today-Aaj Tak network; Navika Kumar, group editor at Times Network; Sushant Sinha, anchor at Times Now; Aman Chopra, Amish Devgan, and Anand Narasimhan of CNN-News18, Prachi Parashar of India TV; Aditi Tyagi of Bharat Express; and Ashok Shrivastav, anchor at DD News.
ThePrint reached all 14 anchors via calls and texts, of whom some declined to comment or gave their statements on their X profiles or spoke about the boycott on their show.
Speaking to ThePrint, Sushant Sinha, who anchors the ‘News ki Pathshala’ on Times Now Navbharat every day at 9 pm, said that he was “surprised” to see his name on the list.
“It seems less like a list made to boycott and more like a list made to target because journalists like me, who do not do any debate show and do not even usually invite any guests on their show, are on this list. Who is being stopped from coming to my show when no one comes?” he said.
“This will only harm the image of the INDIA alliance. Everywhere, on social media, it is being compared to the way the voices of journalists were suppressed during the Emergency. Supporters of some of the parties in the INDIA alliance are openly threatening the journalists on this list with jail or being told to be ready for ‘treatment’. Will journalists in this country now receive such open threats?” added Sinha.
Rubika Liyaquat of Bharat24, on the other hand, said that this is not a ban, “this is fear”.
“This is called intimidation. It’s not boycotting journalists. This is called running away from questions. You are used to dealing with yes men. That is not something I did yesterday, nor will I do it tomorrow. If you have the courage to ban, ban those who are serving hatred in a market of love. They are serving twisted hatred,” Liyaquat wrote in Hindi in a post on X, where the banner on her profile reads ‘Bebaq, Bekhauf, Bejhijak’ (bold, fearless, unfaltering).
According to BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla — who frequently features on debates on news channels — the boycott is a reminder of the Congress’ Emergency mindset.
“Ironically, this alliance prides itself in the fact that it is there to save the Constitution, that it is there to represent the values of tolerance. Instead of taking action against those in the alliance who are speaking against Hinduism, like Udhayanidhi Stalin and Priyank Kharge and the likes of people from the Samajwadi Party and RJD, they are boycotting journalists. It shows how they want to divide and rule the media,” Poonawalla told ThePrint.
He added that this shows the INDIA alliance’s “insecurity”.
“Within 15 minutes of this fatwa being launched, Samajwadi Party’s Anurag Bhadouria was already in a debate on Chitra Tripathi’s show. It shows that they don’t have a consensus among their own party members on these matters. Also, there are a couple of people on the list who do not do debate shows, for example Sudhir Chaudhary and Sushant Sinha. So, this is not a list to boycott anchors, this is a list to target them. I foresee that fake cases will be filed against these anchors and they will be intimidated in Congress-ruled and non-BJP ruled states,” he added.
Also read: INDIA parties to blacklist some TV news anchors, not send representatives to their shows
‘Boycott is a badge of honour’
Following the meeting of the INDIA bloc’s coordination committee Wednesday, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal had said, “The coordination committee authorised the sub-group on media to decide upon the names of the anchors on whose shows none of the INDIA parties will send their representatives.”
The next day, the list was released. It was followed soon by a statement from the NBDA. “The ban on representatives of the Opposition alliance from participating in TV news shows anchored by some of India’s top TV news personalities goes against the ethos of democracy. It betokens intolerance and imperils press freedom,” it said.
This decision reflects INDIA’s long-standing discontent with what they perceive as a media bias in favour of the ruling BJP, an issue that has occasionally led to these anchors being referred to as “Modia” by certain opposition leaders.
In a post on X Thursday, Congress’s Khera said, “With a heavy heart, it was decided not to participate in the shows and events of some anchors. We have been fighting against unrestrained comments, fake news, etc. against our leaders and will continue to fight but will not allow hatred to spread in the society.”
Aman Chopra of CNN-News18, said the boycott is a “badge of honour” that he will carry with pride. “I have not stopped asking questions. Boycott is the biggest badge of honour for a journalist,” Chopra wrote on X.
During his show, he sat with a finger on his lip, while the words “Sawaal na puche” (don’t ask questions) flashed on the screen.
“They boycotted those journalists, who dared to ask questions. History is now repeating itself. Forty-eight years ago, during the Emergency in 1975, the Congress government censored the press and those who used to write against the government, their mouth was shut. Now that’s what they are trying to do to us,” Chopra said.
Senior DD News anchor Shrivastav, too, spoke for five to seven minutes on INDIA’s decision at the start of his daily show ‘Do Took’.
“We give everyone a platform. In fact, some of my viewers have asked why we give certain Opposition leaders a chance to speak because they are often disrespectful. This is our duty. We also ask questions from the establishment and they, too, get upset sometimes. What do they think? That we would give them a platform to just let them give a speech and not ask questions? They say DD is a government channel, but Doordarshan is a public broadcaster and we raise the issues of the public,” he said.
Meanwhile, anchor Aditi Tyagi wrote in a post on X that “My name is in the first place in the list to ask questions for the country. I do not fear”.
Anand Narasimhan of CNN-News18 said on his show: “Key leaders of this alliance claim they are mohabbat ki dukan (market of love) and they are tolerant and they have a love for everybody. Is this love? Is this tolerance? Or is this manifestation of pure hatred?”
When contacted for a comment, Narasimhan told ThePrint that the questions he posed on his show were his response to INDIA’s boycott.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)