With less than a month for the 16th Lok Sabha Elections, the country is witnessing enough drama from political parties. With Congress playing a wait and watch game, the baton of controversies is revolving between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).
The latest controversy of #IntolerantAAP has emerged after Arvind Kejriwal, the founder of AAP allegedly stated that the media has been “bought” with “large amounts” to promote Narendra Modi, who is BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.
The statements were made by Kejriwal at a fund-raising dinner in Nagpur, Maharashtra, on Thursday. He further warned that if his party is voted into power, a detailed investigation will result in “media-wallahs being sent to jail.” While his conversations encoded in a video have been doing the rounds of the television channel, the maverick leader has denied any such comments.
“How can I be upset with you (media)?” he said to reporters in Maharashtra.
While the video is yet to be verified and one can doubt the authenticity, AAP and Kerjriwal are once again under the limelight of controversy after the recent expose of another video of Kejriwal. A week back the ex-Delhi CM asking a well known Aaj Tak TV journalist Punya Prasun Vajpayee to emphasise certain sections of his interview had gone viral on YouTube.
The latest controversy has also made sure that it dominated conversations on Twitter. #IntolerantAAP has been trending since yesterday at the top of the India Twitter Trends.
Kejriwal is standing firm at least on Twitter that media houses are hiding facts about Modi and his governance in Gujarat, and he has also found support.
The parties who are allegedly responsible for many communal / anti-community riots are calling AAP as #IntolerantAAP . Irony just died.
— Tinu Cherian Abraham (@tinucherian) March 14, 2014
That there are many honest journalists is without doubt. There are many corrupt ones too. But more dangerous are the corrupt media owners.
— Pritish Nandy (@PritishNandy) March 14, 2014
Now after condemning Kejriwal,will BEA, Editor's guild investigate n take action against media houses engaged in violation of ethics?
— nikhil wagle (@waglenikhil) March 14, 2014
But then not everyone is not at consensus with Kejriwal’s thoughts on media.
I can imagine a lot of people saying Kejriwal said no wrong. So low is the credibility of the Indian media. #IntolerantAAP
— Shivam Vij (@DilliDurAst) March 14, 2014
After being caught on tape threatening the media, #IntolerantAAP chief Arvind Kejriwal now displays brazen disregard for the fourth estate
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 14, 2014
He climbed the stairs of the same media houses to reach where he is today and now wants to jail them. #IntolerantAAP pic.twitter.com/3YQoZNLCcV
— Akhilesh Mishra (@amishra77) March 14, 2014