Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday denied making a statement against the electronic media on Sunday. According to media reports, Mr. Shinde had threatened to "crush" elements in the electronic media who were indulging in false propaganda during a public function on Sunday.
In an attempt to clarify his stand, Mr. Shinde said, "My comments were on social media with regards to the issue related to the north-east students who were being targeted in Hyderabad and Karnataka." According to the Times of India , he also categorically denied his attack on the electronic media. "I never said that the electronic media should be demolished o crushed," he is reported to have said.
The local media had reported that Mr. Shinde had targeted the electronic media at a Youth Congress event in Solapur. "Recently, there have been efforts by the media to provoke the Congress. We will crush such elements in the electronic media, which are indulging in false propaganda," Mr. Shinde had said. The media should only report the truth, but that has not been happening, he had added.
"I have the intelligence department under me. I know who is doing such things," Mr. Shinde is reported to have said.
PTI adds:
The outburst by Mr. Shinde, a Congress leader who hails from Maharashtra’s Sholapur district, came at a Youth Congress event.
Mr. Shinde, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Sholapur, alleged that since the last four months a section of the electronic media is “manipulating” news about him and his party and warned it would be “crushed” if this kind of reportage is not stopped immediately.
Mr. Shinde’s remarks came against the backdrop of a series of opinion polls in the national and regional media which predicted a poor showing for the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Urging the media to focus on positive stories, which will be welcomed by the people, Mr. Shinde said the people of the country will not accept those dividing the country by disturbing society.
