The leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party, including party president J P Nadda, on Thursday condemned the alleged attack on senior journalist Arnab Goswami and targeted the Congress over the incident.
Also read: Journalists condemn FIR against Siddharth Varadarajan
“Shocking to see Arnab Goswami attacked after Congress CMs publicly threatened him. Sad to see such public hounding of a journalist for his freedom of speech. Congress shows it is the party that brought Emergency and continues its rich tradition of trampling free speech,” Mr. Nadda tweeted.
There was no immediate reaction from the opposition party.
Two motorcycle-borne persons allegedly attacked Goswami’s car in Mumbai and tried to break its glass window when he and his wife were on the way home in the early hours of Thursday, police said.
Also read: Withdraw case against The Hindu journalist: Editors Guild of India
Both the attackers have been arrested, they added.
Senior BJP leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar also condemned the incident.
He said every attack on any journalist is condemnable as this is against democracy and sought action against the accused as per law.
Several other BJP leaders also deplored the incident and took aims at the Congress.
Mr. Goswami, the editor-in-chief and owner of Republic TV , said in a video posted after the incident that he was told by his security guards that the attackers were Youth Congress workers.
There was no confirmation of the same by either police or the youth outfit.
The journalist has invited sharp criticism from Congress leaders for his remarks aimed at their party president Sonia Gandhi during a TV discussion on the Palghar incident in which three persons, including two sadhus, were lynched.
Senior Congress leaders, including chief ministers, slammed Goswami with the party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala alleging that it was “deeply disgraceful that PM and BJP eulogize this brand of TV anchors”.
