‘We have not banned, boycotted anyone’: Congress’ Pawan Khera on INDIA bloc’s latest media policy

#WATCH | On INDIA alliance’s announcement to boycott several TV news anchors, Congress leader Pawan Khera says “We have not banned, boycotted or blacklisted anyone. This is a non-cooperation movement, we will not cooperate with anyone spreading hatred in the society…They are… pic.twitter.com/ehBoCsNEBQ

— ANI (@ANI) September 16, 2023

This comes after the INDIA alliance, in an unprecedented move, released a list of 14 TV anchors, accusing them of conducting “hate-filled” news debates. The bloc, which is in power in 11 states, said it will not send its representatives on shows featuring Aman Chopra, Amish Devgan and Anand Narasimhan of News 18; Chitra Tripathi and Sudhir Chaudhary of Aaj Tak; Gaurav Sawant and Shiv Aroor of India Today; Prachi Parashar of India TV; Arnab Goswami of Republic Bharat; Rubika Liyaquat of Bharat 24; Navika Kumar and Sushant Sinha of Times Now Navbharat; Aditi Tyagi of Bharat Express; and Ashok Shrivastav of DD News.

The decision drew sharp criticism from the BJP, who accused the Congress of  having an “Emergency era mindset”. The alliance was further accused of “gagging the media” by the News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA).

CWC meeting today

The two-day meeting of the CWC will start in Hyderabad today, the first one since the formation of the INDIA bloc as well as the reconstitution of the committee.

It is expected the party’s top leaders will discuss seat-sharing formulas with its allies for the upcoming Assembly elections in five states as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Officially, the agenda of the CWC meeting circulated to members is discussions on “the current political situation in the country” and “elections”.

Apart from this, another issue that could crop up in the meeting is the demand by several party leaders that Rahul Gandhi take out another Bharat Jodo Yatra, with some pushing for it to happen as soon as possible.

The venue for the CWC meeting is also significant, as it is rare for the meeting to happen outside Delhi.