CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury who remained silent on the case filed against Akhila Nandakumar, the chief reporter of Asianet News, has now blatantly attacked PM Modi over freedom of press. His reaction came in connection with the statements made by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on the Indian government.
New Delhi: Political fury has been widespread in Kerala ever since the ruling LDF government falsely accused Asianet News reporter Akhila Nandakumar and others of engaging in a conspiracy on the basis of a complaint made by the state general secretary of the Students' Federation of India (SFI), PM Arsho.
Akhila Nandakumar was booked for covering live, the Arsho's mark list controversy alleged by Kerala Students Union (KSU) in Maharaja's College in Ernakulam.
When questioned about how the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan-led Police department "arraigned" Akhila Nandakumar, the chief reporter of Asianet News as one of the five accused in a case filed by Arsho, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury replied, "I don't know anything of Kerala," and then he turned and walked away.
The CPIM leader has now publicly criticised the Modi administration over press freedom, in what could be seen as hypocrisy. In light of claims made by Twitter's co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, who claimed that the Indian government asked Twitter to restrict accounts covering farmer demonstrations and those critical of the government, he responded. Yechury claimed that journalists are intimidated and imprisoned on false allegations. He asserted that the truth would not go away under the rule of PM Modi.
The CPM Politburo meeting in 2017, issued a statement saying that the media is being attacked by the Modi government to the extent that they are not allowed to perform their duties. The CPM had previously criticized the use of central agencies to monitor the media in 2021. However, according to Sitaram Yechury, he is unaware of the incident in Kerala, where the so-called Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM), is ruling.
The national media criticized the government's move to file a conspiracy case against journalist Akhila Nandakumar, who had reported the KSU allegations against SFI live on Asianet News. The Telegraph newspaper strongly criticized the action with the headline that Sangh Parivar and the Left are alike in threatening the media. Telegram has given the news great prominence on the front page. Other national media such as news agency ANI, Indian Express, and some English online media have also reported against the Kerala government's action.
Reacting to Dorsey's allegation made during an interview with an anti-establishment Youtube show 'Breaking Points', Union Minister of State for Electronics and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar slammed Dorsey for, perhaps, attempting to brush out that very dubious period of Twitter's history. He termed it as an 'outright lie'.
