Kochi: CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury’s remarks on media manipulation by the BJP-ruled Centre landed him in an embarrassing situation with its timing. Yechury’s tweet on intimidation of journalists by the government came in the wake of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's claim that his organisation was threatened by the Narendra Modi-led government.
Congress leaders in Kerala, however, took it as an opportunity to question the CPM leader’s silence on the recent case registered against a TV journalist by the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government of Kerala.
The Congress asked if his remarks on media manipulation were also applicable to his party comrade and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
"Dissent is intimidated, journalists threatened, abused and jailed on false pretext. No amount of denial by the Modi government can obfuscate the truth of doctoring media content," Yechury said in a tweet on Tuesday. The remarks come in the wake of Dorsey's claim that the Indian government threatened to shut down the micro-blogging platform unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts during the farmers' protest.
Reacting to Yechury’s tweet, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president and MP K Sudhakaran said that Yechury appeared to be blissfully unaware that Vijayan was also involved in media manipulation. "@SitaramYechury seems to be blissfully unaware that his comrade @pinarayivijayan is also involved in media manipulation. The irony of conveniently turning a blind eye to the wrongdoings in their own backyard is truly astonishing," Sudhakaran tweeted.
Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan also took a dig at the CPM general secretary, asking whether his remarks were applicable to Vijayan and his government as well. "Mr.Yechury, is this applicable to Com. Pinarayi and his government too #CPMterror#FreedomOfPress," Satheesan tweeted.
The Congress leaders' tweets are in reference to the booking of Akhila Nandakumar, a woman reporter of Asianet News, in a conspiracy and defamation case on a complaint by SFI state secretary P M Arsho. The registration of the case has evoked strong protest from opposition parties, activists as well as CPM sympathisers. A case was registered by police under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code such as Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 465 (forgery) and 500 (defamation) among others on June 9 against five persons, including the journalist.
A controversy erupted on June 6 after KSU had raised an allegation showing a mark list in which Arsho, who is also a student of Maharaja's College in Ernakulam, had "passed" even though he did not attend any exam. Later, the college clarified that his name was seen among another batch's result and clarified it as a technical error. "A fake result was published in March 2023 in which the complainant has passed an exam which he did not even register and the same was circulated through social media on June 6 with an intention to tarnish the image of the complainant and SFI," the FIR read. Arsho had alleged that there was a conspiracy behind the incident.
