Twitter war and controversial temple visit heat up UP assembly by-polls
As the assembly by-election dates approach in Uttar Pradesh, a Twitter war has erupted between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BJP to woo their respective vote banks.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday hit out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the arrest of journalists stating that the “CM was behaving foolishly”.
Five people including three media persons were arrested in a span of two days for allegedly uploading “defamatory” post on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
A freelance journalist, an editor of a TV channel and its owner were arrested on Saturday over contents that were considered objectionable against the Chief Minister. Another man from Gorakhpur and a woman were arrested on Sunday.
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The arrests sparked a huge debate on social media on freedom of expression in the country.
“If every journalist who files a false report or peddles fake, vicious RSS/BJP sponsored propaganda about me is put in jail, most newspapers/ news channels would face a severe staff shortage. The UP CM is behaving foolishly & needs to release the arrested journalists,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
If every journalist who files a false report or peddles fake, vicious RSS/BJP sponsored propaganda about me is put in jail, most newspapers/ news channels would face a severe staff shortage.
The UP CM is behaving foolishly & needs to release the arrested journalists. https://t.co/KtHXUXbgKS
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 11, 2019
The Editor’s Guild too had termed the police action as “high-handed, arbitrary and authoritarian misuse of laws”.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the immediate release of freelance journalist, Prashant Kanojia who was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police for ‘defamatory video’ on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, stating that it is “not murder”.
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