Early Thursday morning, Arnab Goswami, the editor of television channel Republic TV, took to the channel’s Twitter handle to post a video, claiming that he had been attacked by ‘Congress goons’ and had filed a complaint with Mumbai’s NM Joshi Marg police station. Two people have been arrested for their alleged role in the attack so far.
However, to understand why this attack happened, we need to go back to exactly a week ago, when three people, which included two Sadhus, were lynched in Palghar.
April 17, 2020: Three people, including two Sadhus are beaten to death in a Palghar village. Initial reports say that the trio are residents of Kandivali and on their way to a funeral in Surat. They are mistaken for thieves in Palghar and are killed. One of the victims is a driver.
April 19, 2020: CCTV footage of the lynching show that two of the victims killed are Sadhus. Police are seen silently observing, as locals assault the unarmed trio with sticks and stones. Outrage pours out on social media. 110 people are detained
April 20, 2020: The story becomes national news. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath writes to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to take strict action against the accused. Two cops are arrested. BJP meanwhile accused of communalizing the incident.
Arnab Goswami resigns from Editors Guild of India; accuses liberal media of staying silent when ‘innocent people are getting killed’
April 21, 2020: Arnab Goswami accuses interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi of being silent. "I would like to ask the country, would the country had remained silent if Maulvis or Christian Padres would have been targeted the way Hindu saints were? Would Italy’s Antonia Maino (Sonia Gandhi) have remained silent then? I would like to tell you, if the victims had been Christian padres, Sonia Gandhi, who had come from Rome, would not have remained silent on the issue," he yells.
April 22, 2020: Congress leasders question Arnab Goswami’s style of journalism; Congress supporters call for his arrest. Party leaders Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut say that they will lodge complaints to get FIRs filed against Arnab Goswami for rant against Sonia.
Chhattisgarh Congress chief Mohan Markam meanwhile files an FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, relating to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc and deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.
April 23, 2020: At 1 am, Arnab Goswami puts out a video claiming he was attacked by ‘Congress goons’. Two people are subsequently arrested.
