Netaji portrait row: Rashtrapati Bhavan slams India Today, calls journalists' behaviour juvenile

In fact, the Rashtrapati Bhavan has said that the distressing actions have forced it to review its engagement with the India Today group.

<p>The Rashtrapati Bhavan has come down hard upon the India Today group over the recent posts by its journalists casting aspersions about the recent unveiling of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's portrait at the presidential palace.<br />&nbsp;</p><p>In fact, the Rashtrapati Bhavan has said that the distressing actions have forced it to review its engagement with the India Today group.<br />&nbsp;</p><p>Slamming the 'irresponsible' and 'juvenile' behaviour by the channel journalists, Ajay Kumar Singh, the press secretary to the President of India, wrote a scathing letter on January 27 to group Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie.</p>

The Rashtrapati Bhavan has come down hard upon the India Today group over the recent posts by its journalists casting aspersions about the recent unveiling of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's portrait at the presidential palace.

In fact, the Rashtrapati Bhavan has said that the distressing actions have forced it to review its engagement with the India Today group.

Slamming the 'irresponsible' and 'juvenile' behaviour by the channel journalists, Ajay Kumar Singh, the press secretary to the President of India, wrote a scathing letter on January 27 to group Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie.

<p>The letter lamented that senior journalists from the India Today group did not bother to check the facts.<br />&nbsp;</p><p>Senior anchor and Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai was among those who cast aspersion on the portrait, claiming that it was resembled actor Prosenjit, who played the role of Netaji in a movie 'Gumnami', and not the freedom fighter himself.&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</p><p>The Tweet was later deleted.</p>

The letter lamented that senior journalists from the India Today group did not bother to check the facts.

Senior anchor and Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai was among those who cast aspersion on the portrait, claiming that it was resembled actor Prosenjit, who played the role of Netaji in a movie 'Gumnami', and not the freedom fighter himself. 

The Tweet was later deleted.

<p>In his letter to Aroon Purie, the President's press secretary said, "Before making a serious claim like this, they could have checked with y member of Netaji's family (for example, CK Bose, who clarified on Twitter that the portrait was indeed of the great leader himself), or with the actor (who too put the records straight) as well as the Rashtrapati Bhavan itself."<br />&nbsp;</p><p>"They did not do any of the basic fact checks and joined the ranks of those who were throwing wild accusation for political gains. In gleefully ridiculing this high Constitutional office, they not only discredited their professional ethics but also cast a shadow on the office of the President of India," he added.<br />&nbsp;</p><p>Singh reiterated that the journalists' behaviour "compromised the dignity of the Rashtrapati Bhavan".</p>

In his letter to Aroon Purie, the President's press secretary said, "Before making a serious claim like this, they could have checked with y member of Netaji's family (for example, CK Bose, who clarified on Twitter that the portrait was indeed of the great leader himself), or with the actor (who too put the records straight) as well as the Rashtrapati Bhavan itself."

"They did not do any of the basic fact checks and joined the ranks of those who were throwing wild accusation for political gains. In gleefully ridiculing this high Constitutional office, they not only discredited their professional ethics but also cast a shadow on the office of the President of India," he added.

Singh reiterated that the journalists' behaviour "compromised the dignity of the Rashtrapati Bhavan".