Bastar journalist assaulted by Congress workers

Raipur, Sept 29 : Senior Journalist Kamal Shukla from Chhattisgarh was seen being dragged and clothes being torn because of being assaulted by Congress workers in a video circulating largely on social media. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has characterised the assault as a fight between rival groups of journalists. However, attacked journalists say they have been targeted for reporting the news and seeking answers from the government.

 

Congress is the ruling party in the state government of Chhattisgarh, and unlike other incidents that happened in BJP - ruled states earlier, when Congress General Secretary Priyanka Vadra kept on nudging through her tweets about the job of journalists and freedom of press, now has decided to stay mute about this incident. The incident occurred on September 26 with Satish Yadav, a journalist with a local Hindi newspaper Subah ka Prahari. The incident, in fact, took place close to local police station.

 

The incident took place in the presence of the local police inspector and Former President of Kanker Nagar Palika of Bastar region is accused to be involved dominantly in the act. Yadav had been working on corruption related to Kanker Nagar Palika since last few months. At the same time, when few local journalists rushed to the police station to resolve the issue, they too were assaulted. These included Kamal Shukla, editor of Bhumkal Samachar who is seen in the viral video.

 

Official representative of Congress in the region Gaffar Memon, Congress MLA Shishupal Shori, Ganesh Tiwari, Maqbool Khan and Shadab Khan are the names accused of being involved in the assault, which have come out so far. Shukla claimed the inspector at the police station said he was powerless to save the journalists, and that the journalists should ask the Superintendent of Police for protection.

 

Congress Secretary Priyanka Vadra who had been tweeting timely about such incidents in other states by stating, “Journalists are not there just for praising wearing blindfolds. Their job is to make news on public issues and seek answers from the government” has now took a stand of silence on an incident happening in a Congress ruled state.