‘New India’ takes press seriously: TMC MP Mahua Moitra on NewsClick raids

Some journalists, including Urmilesh and Abhishar Sharma, were taken to the Lodhi Road Special Cell office for questioning.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of NewsClick Prabir Purkayastha is brought to Delhi Police Special Cell in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. (PTI Photo)

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Moitra, a Lok Sabha MP representing Krishnanagar in West Bengal, said, “Senior journalists raided and taken for questioning. Their phones and laptops seized. New India takes the press seriously.” The opposition bloc, INDIA, which includes the TMC, strongly criticised the raids. It alleged that the BJP government’s “coercive” actions are primarily directed against those who speak truth to power, rather than those who promote hatred and divisiveness.

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) stated in a release that the “government has also attempted to transform the media into a mouthpiece for its partisan and ideological interests by facilitating the takeover of media organisations by crony capitalists”.