The arrest of senior journalist Vinod Verma has triggered a verbal duel between the Congress and the BJP. As the Congress charged the Modi-Government with “attacking” and “squeezing Press freedom” the BJP advised the Grand Old party not to “confuse between media freedom and criminal activities beyond the realm of media space.”
Not losing time to strike at the BJP, senior Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken demanded a judicial probe into the “serious sex-related allegations” against a Chhattisgarh Minister, which, he added, were being investigated by the journalist.
Along with this, he also wanted a judicial probe into allegations levelled by a Patidar leader in Gujarat that the BJP had bribed him to join the party.
On Verma’s arrest, Maken said, “The Narendra Modi-led Central Government and the Chhattisgarh Government have been attacking, squeezing Press freedom...We strongly condemn Verma’s arrest and demand that he be released immediately and a judicial probe into the allegations against the State Minister be announced.”
Verma, who earlier worked with the BBC Hindi service and Amar Ujala, has claimed that the Chhattisgarh Police is not happy with him as he has a “sex CD” of a Minister of that State.
Seeking to magnify the alleged ‘anti-media approach’ of the BJP Government, Maken said Verma’s arrest should not be seen as a ‘one-off’ incident. He noted that Verma was also a member of the Editors’ Guild and wondered whether a junior journalist would dare do investigative stories after the way the former was picked up from his residence late at night just because “he was probing the allegations against a State Minister”.
In its response to the arrest of the journalist, BJP took on the Congress saying it was shameful for the Opposition party to confuse media freedom with criminal activities.
“It is utterly shameful that the Congress is confused between media freedom and criminal activities beyond the realm of media space. Attempt to blackmail is a serious criminal offence and the Congress is showing its political bankruptcy by defending it,” BJP spokesperson GVl Narasimha Rao said.
Escalating its attack on the BJP , Congress also referred to the bribery charges leveled by a Patidar leader against the BJP. Drawing attention to an audio tape circulated by Gujarat’s Patidar leader Narendra Patel to back his recent allegation that the ruling BJP had bribed him to join the saffron camp, Maken questioned why no FIR was lodged against BJP chief Amit Shah, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and two others in this regard.
He called for a judicial probe into the matter and demanded that the EC take cognisance of the issue. The Congress leader also said the audio tape would be presented before a court, which would hear the matter next week.