The opposition INDIA bloc on Thursday announced that they would boycott the shows and debates of 14 television anchors on several platforms, saying some channels have put up a nafrat ka bazaar (market for hatred) for the last nine years.
"Pursuant to the decision taken by INDIA Coordination Committee in its meeting on September 13, 2023, the INDIA parties will not send their representatives on the shows and events of the following anchors," the media committee of the alliance said in a statement.
They also released the list of TV anchors to be boycotted, which included Arnab Goswami, Sudhir Chaudhary and Navika Kumar. Other journalists who have figured in the list included Aditi Tyagi, Aman Chopra, Amish Devgan, Anand Narasimhan, Ashok Shrivastav, Chitra Tripathi, Gaurav Sawant, Prachi Parashar, Rubika Liaquat, Shiv Aroor and Sushant Sinha.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, who is a part of the committee, said some channels have put up a nafrat ka bazaar (market for hatred) for the last nine years.
PTI quoted Khera as saying that the opposition alliance has decided not to legitimise this "hate-filled narrative" which is corroding our society.
"We are not opposed to any of the anchors, but we do not want to be a party to such endeavours," the Congress leader said. "We will not be customers in this market of this hate," he added.
Emergency, says BJP
The ruling BJP hit out at the opposition bloc’s move to boycott some TV anchors and compared it to Emergency. "The only instance we have seen of civil liberties being curtailed in India was during the Emergency in 1975," Union minister Hardeep Puri said on X.
BJP’s IT Cell chief Amit Malviya wrote on X: "So I.N.D.I Alliance has released a list of journalists, who refused to even bend, when the Opposition expected them to crawl. They should wear it as a badge of honour. More power to them..."
