The Congress party and Rahul Gandhi are facing widespread ridicule after Kamal Nath defied the party leadership to invite Navika Kumar of Times Now to a private jet ride during an election campaign in Madhya Pradesh. Navika being invited to accompany Nath, the Congress party’s chief ministerial face in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, assumes significance since the party had gone to public announcing her boycott along with 13 other members of the lapdog TV anchors. These boycotted TV anchors are often referred to as the members of the notorious G14 gang.
Sharing the photos of herself with Kamal Nath, Kumar wrote on Twitter, “On the campaign trail with @OfficeOfKNath who looks bright and fresh for the battle of Madhya Pradesh. You really can’t believe that after 44 yrs in politics his energy & enthusiasm are unabated. Excerpts coming Coming up tonight on @thenewshour @9 & also on #FranklySpeaking over the weekend.”
Announcing the names of 14 TV anchors in September this year, Congress leader Pawan Khera had tweeted, “The following decision was taken by the INDIA media committee in a virtual meeting held this afternoon.”
The statement from the INDIA alliance had read, “Pursuant to the decision taken by the INDIA Coordination Committee in its meeting on September 13, the INDIA parties will not send their representatives on the shows and events of following anchors.”
The 14 boycotted anchors included Navika Kumar and Sushant Sinha of Times Now, Chitra Tripathi and Sudhir Chaudhary of Aaj Tak, Aman Chopra, Amish Devgan and Anand Narasimhan of Mukesh Ambani’s News 18, Arnab Goswami of Republic TV, Gaurav Sawant and Shiv Aroor of India Today, Aditi Tyagi of Bharat Express, Rubika Liyaquat of Bharat 24, Prachi Prashar of India News and Ashok Shrivastav of Doordarshan.
This is in this context that netizens have begun ridiculing the stand taken by the Congress to boycott these anchors. BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya took to Twitter to mock Rahul Gandhi as he wrote, “Navika Kumar is on the boycott list, drawn by Rahul Gandhi’s team, of I.N.D.I Alliance. But Kamalnath, after slamming SP, is flying her in his chopper and giving interviews. Congress leaders treat Rahul Gandhi’s diktat as trash. Earlier, Nitish Kumar had disapproved of the move.”
Similar sentiments were expressed by others.
नविका कुमार @navikakumar से मुझे परहेज नहीं ।परहेज कांग्रेस को था। कांग्रेस और India ने बयान जारी कर गोदी मीडिया के 14 एंकरों का बहिष्कार किया था जिसमें नविका का भी नाम था।
अब कमलनाथ ने नविका को मेहमान बनाया, मध्यप्रदेश बुलाया, अपने जहाज में बैठाया और इंटरव्यू दिया।
गोदी मीडिया… pic.twitter.com/WZEZcGF40e— Deepak Sharma (@DeepakSEditor) November 4, 2023
Is @OfficeOfKNath not part of INDIA?
I am not sure Kamal Nath is part of the alliance or not But I am pretty sure that the lady with Kamal Nath is @navikakumar who is at number 9 in the list.@RahulGandhi kaise jeetega INDIA? https://t.co/1yFUdFhKo6 pic.twitter.com/loW8pmkjgT
— श्री हरि🇮🇳 (@JaiHindLamba) November 3, 2023
Kamalnath’s interview with Navika Kumar is an example of what this @thecaravanindia cover page depicts. pic.twitter.com/o0lucWMc3q
— Saurav Das (@OfficialSauravD) November 3, 2023
Godi anchors say Congress never stands true to its words.
Then Kamalnath gave a big personal interview to Navika Kumar and proved them right.
— Nehr_who? (@Nher_who) November 4, 2023
I’m afraid I will have to agree with the content of this tweet. Congress has learnt nothing in the last 9 years. And indeed no one takes Rahul Gandhi seriously in his own party. Modi is returning to power next year and don’t be surprised with assembly election results as well! https://t.co/3ECP8bNQhC
— Rifat Jawaid (@RifatJawaid) November 4, 2023