Published 18:50 IST, November 4th 2020
Arnab Goswami arrested: 'Reminder of Congress culture' says Uttarakhand CM Rawat
Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat called it an attack on freedom of media and said that the arrest of Arnab Goswami is a "reminder of Congress culture.
As the nation witnessed the blatant abuse of power by Mumbai Police which barged into the residence of Republic Media Network's editor in chief Arnab Goswami and arrested him early morning on Wednesday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has called it an attack on freedom of media and said that the arrest of Arnab Goswami is a "reminder of Congress culture" which had caused the Emergency in 1975.
"The arrest of Arnab Goswami of the Republic Channel is an attack on the expression and freedom of the press. It is a reminder of the Congress culture that reminds me of the days of Emergency. I condemn the shutting down of the voice of honest journalists in a democracy," Rawat tweeted in Hindi.
Even Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwani Kumar Choubey has condemned the blatant abuse of power calling it a reminder of Emergency.
"Senior journalist Arnab Goswami has been arrested by Mumbai Police on the way. Is unfortunate. Such an event is a reminder of the Emergency. I have been a victim of emergency. The character of the Congress has been to assault on the freedom of expression. The incident is condemnable," Ashwini Kumar Choubey tweeted in Hindi.
Witchhunt continues
This brutal abuse of power has followed after the witchhunt by Mumbai Police and Maharashtra Government against Republic as it relentlessly pursued the Palghar Sadhus Lynching case and the Sushant Singh Rajput death case and strongly opposed the laxity in the investigation by Mumbai Police and the alleged coverup in the mentioned cases. The Mumbai Police has been planting cases after cases on Republic and Arnab Goswami. Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh in his latest news plant called Arnab "the biggest hawala operator in the city of Mumbai" after he failed to implicate Republic Media Network in the falsely implanted TRP matter. Republic's management & editorial staff have endured over 150 hours of questioning in a variety of cases that are beyond the TRP matter. The journalists maintained that they won’t reveal their sources. The Param Bir Singh led Mumbai Police had filed an FIR on the entire editorial team of the Network invoking a 1922 British Raj-era law that had last been used in the Emergency-era.
From Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Union Ministers Smriti Irani, Ravi Shankar Prasad and S Jaishankar have expressed their outrage against the arrest of Arnab Goswami and the attack on freedom of media. The Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ) has also condemned the assault and arrest and asked the government to 'desist from the witch-hunting of Arnab Goswami and Republic'. The IFWJ slammed the Mumbai Police for its inhuman treatment towards the Editor in Chief of Republic even after the news organisation and all its employees had cooperated in all of the prior investigations. Further, IFWJ highlighted that Arnab and team had been 'trenchantly criticising the Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra government' over their inaction in the Palghar sadhu lynching case and the Sushant Singh Rajput death probe.
The Police has also detained the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) protestors who were protesting outside Mantralaya to oppose the fascist move of the state government and a vendetta against Republic Media Network.
Updated 20:02 IST, November 4th 2020