Rahul Gandhi Receives Flak After Insulting Journalist Covering Congress For 15 Years

Rahul Gandhi received massive backlash for his “arrogance” towards a News18 journalist who he chided at his press conference on Saturday over a question. Political leaders and journalists across portals condemned the Congress leader for his outburst at the newsperson who has been covering the Grand Old Party for 15 years.

Addressing a press briefing over his disqualification from Lok Sabha after his sentence in a defamation case over ‘Modi surname’, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday lost his temper at a journalist and accused him of working for the BJP, asked him to be a “better pressman”.

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Having lost his MP status, a frustrated Gandhi asked the journalist “hawa nikal gayi?” after snubbing the journalist for queries on the BJP’s charge of insult to OBCs.

The insult to the scribe drew sharp reactions from the Bharatiya Janata Party and even from members of the journalist community. The Mumbai Press Club issued a statement, deploring Rahul Gandhi for “humiliating” the journalist.

“The job of a journalist is to ask questions, and it is the duty of political leaders who call press conference and engage with journalists to answer these questions with dignity and decorum. It is unfortunate that as the leader of one of the oldest political parties of the country, Shri Gandhi failed to respect the dignity of the fourth estate,” the statement by The Mumbai Press Club condemning Congress leader’s outburst at the journalist read.

National Union of Journalists-India asked Rahul Gandhi to not angry on the questions and answer them instead. In a tweet, the journalists’ body wrote, “Media also has the right to ask questions. We condemn such behaviour.”

The BJP, too, criticised Rahul Gandhi for his remarks, asking if this is the faith he has for democratic institutions like the media.

BJP chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni said, “This is the kind of respect Rahul Gandhi has for all democratic institutions. Why does he hate Other Backward Classes so much. He became so rattled just because journalists asked him questions about the insult to OBCs.”

BJP I-T department head Amit Malviya tweeted, “Rahul Gandhi, when asked a straight question on insulting the OBCs, calls the journalist a BJP spokesperson, asks him to wear a BJP badge, before he answers him. Last time he did something similar in Amethi, he lost the election there. OBC community is enraged at this defiance.” He also posted a video clip of the exchange.

Malviya dubbed it as Gandhi’s “arrogance”.

In another tweet, Malviya wrote that the journalist, covering Congress for 15 years, was “shot down the moment he stepped out of the line”.

“I am told the journalist Rahul Gandhi snubbed for asking a perfectly legitimate question has been covering the Congress for 15 years and is fairly aligned. Yet, he was shot down, the moment he stepped out of the line. What arrogance!” Amit Malviya said.

“But Rahul Gandhi is messiah of ‘free’ press…,” Malviya added.

BJP MP Prakash Javadekar, in a tweet, wrote, “This is how #RahulGandhi respects the ‘Freedom of Press’ & ‘Democracy’!”

“In response to a straight question on insulting the OBCs, he calls the journalist a ‘BJP spokesperson’, and demands he wear a BJP badge,” Javadekar said.

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia claimed that Gandhi was ill-prepared to answer the question and instead made “scurrilous” comments against the journalist. Gandhi showed his contempt for the media and tried to destroy it with his conduct, he claimed.

A journalist wrote on Twitter, “Rahul Gandhi’s jibe at a journalist at his press conference proves that he hasn’t matured as a politician and is holding political baggage of family history. Rahul was free to attack BJP and Modi Govt. Why take cheap juvenile potshots at journalists and media in mere frustration?”

BJP’s Shehzad Poonawalla also slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said in a tweet, “First insult OBCs, Then insult courts, Now insult journalists.”

“Typical behaviour of an entitled brat & Shehzada,” Poonawalla said.

A court in Gujarat’s Surat held Congress leader Rahul Gandhi guilty on Thursday in the 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his “Modi surname” remarks. The court also announced a two-year jail term as quantum of punishment, however, Gandhi was granted bail and the sentence was suspended for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court.

The case was filed against Rahul Gandhi for his alleged “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” remarks on a complaint lodged by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi.

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