Opposition's INDIA bloc to shun 14 news anchors; BJP slams move

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, September 14

The Opposition’s INDIA bloc on Thursday announced a boycott of 14 anchors from eight mainstream news channels — News18, Bharat Express, Aaj Tak, Times Now, Republic Bharat, India Today, Bharat24 and India TV — and made the list public.

The decision to shun certain news anchors was taken at the first meeting of the coordination committee of the India National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc held here.

In a post on X today, Congress leader Pawan Khera, a member of the INDIA sub-committee on media, said 14 anchors had been identified in whose shows INDIA parties would not send their representatives.

Hitting back, BJP president JP Nadda said the Emergency-era mindset was still alive among these parties. “These days, the INDI Alliance is doing only two things: bashing Sanatan Sanskriti and bullying the media by filing FIRs, threatening individual journalists, making lists in true Nazi style of whom to target.

The history of the Congress has many instances of bullying the media and silencing those with differing voices. Pandit Nehru curtailed free speech and arrested those who criticised him. Indira Ji remains the gold medal winner of how to do it- called for committed judiciary, committed bureaucracy and imposed the horrific Emergency. Rajiv Ji tried to bring the media under state control but failed miserably. Sonia Ji-led UPA was banning social media handles simply because the Congress did not like their views,” Nadda posted on X.

Previously, the CPM boycotted Asianet for a few months and the Trinamool Congress shunned Times Now. However, this is the first time that an alliance has decided collectively to boycott certain anchors.

In a post on X, Aaj Tak’s Sudhir Chaudhary, facing a police case in Karnataka for “spreading false and communally inflammatory news”, said, “The 14 anchors mentioned in INDIA list had refused to be boot-lickers (‘charan chumbaks’). Let’s see how the media of Bharat responds to this step.”