Everyone must be aware of reports of Prasar Bharti calling The Press Trust of India anti-national and its threat to cancel its Rs 9-crore per annum subscription fee to India’s premier news agency.
The threat came days after PTI had published an interview with Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong.
During the interview, Weidong had blamed India for the skirmish between the two countries in Galwan valley. This created a lot of resentment among people. They took to social media platforms and expressed their ire PTI for not asking probing questions on Chinese ambassador’s dubious claims. Few others dismissed the interview as a PR story.
Not only this, people called it a very serious issue, considering the global reach PTI has. The news agency not only has big Indian media as its subscribers, but also has news-sharing arrangements with big foreign news agencies.
PTI, in fact, has been under Narendra Modi government’s observation for some time.
It has not pulled itself back from expressing its ire over PTI’s conduct. During the entire 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign, PM Modi had not given any interview to it, though he gave it to almost all media houses. He also had discontinued having PTI representatives onboard for his foreign tours.
Why did Modi do this to PTI, one might ask.
Sources told us that the Modi government was dismayed with the entire PTI editorial staff led by Editor-In-Chief Vijay Joshi for partying at Hot Mess Kitchen and Bar, located at New Delhi’s Connaught Place, a day after the Pulwama attack, in which more than 40 soldiers were martyred. They, however, defended the party by saying that it was scheduled months before Pulwama attack.
But, a question arises here – couldn’t PTI cancelled the party when the entire nation was mourning the death of Indian soldiers? Vijay Joshi, as is known, was parashooted by MK Razdan to replace him as Editor-in-Chief. Razdan is declared pro-Congress and his daughter Nidhi Razdan, former NDTV anchor, a leftist.
Sources revealed that some editors had objected to holding the event, but were intimidated. Two staff members, who were entrusted with event managing, threatened the reluctant staff with dire consequences.
Soon, PTI’s distrust in the Modi government and Indian Air Force came to light. On February 27, the Indian Air Force carried out a surgical strike in Pakistan’s Balakot targeting militant hideouts. The strike began at 3:45 am and went on till 3:53 am, but surprisingly, PTI reported it, at 9.55 am, only after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s tweet.
Does Joshi distrusts PM Modi and Indian Air Force and only trusts Rahul Gandhi, who is a mere MP, one may ask.
However, PTI’s conduct during Pulwama, Balakot and Galwan attacks, certainly raises suspicion over its anti-India stance.