Political parties are divided over the arrest of Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in the alleged suicide case of interior designer Anvay Naik on Wednesday morning.
BJP leaders including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Prakash Javadekar, Smriti Irani and JP Nadda on Wednesday said it was an attempt by Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to "silence" those who disagree with them and urged the people to stand up against "fascism."
On the other hand, hitting out at the BJP, the Congress said its "selective outrage" on press freedom is "shameful" and the law will take its own course in the case against Goswami.
Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA and NCP chief Sharad Pawar's grandnephew Rohit Pawar on Wednesday has called out BJP for being "hypocritical".
Taking to Twitter, Rohit Pawar wrote, "BJP leaders conveniently kept quiet when people from NDTV, The Wire, The Print & other media houses were arrested for raising voices against Govt. but when a journalist who has repeatedly maligned state's reputation has been arrested they started talking about Freedom of Press."
He added, "Can these people not see that he is the same journalist who has allegations of abetting suicide of a common man & his mother?They are the ones who tried to influence citizens through social media,deprived journalists of their rights of freedom of expression. Heights of hypocrisy!"
On Wednesday, The Wire compiled a list of journalists arrested in the last few months but "haven’t got the same solidarity from the ruling party as Goswami has". Siddique Kappan, Kishorechandra Wangkhem and Prashant Kanojia are a few journalists who have FIRs against them or have been summoned by the police.
