The economic data released by the government on Friday showed that India’s growth had shrunk to 5.8 percent between January and March this year. This also meant that India was no longer the fastest growing economy as China recorded more than 6 percent economic growth in the same quarter. Many media outlets including Times Now, which came under flak for flying the flag for the central government in the past, flashed the news with utmost prominence. Now the channel is facing flak from its detractors.
The government’s woes did not end with disheartening data on economic growth. The data on unemployment released by the statistics ministry confirmed earlier reports that joblessness in India had touched a 45-year high. This came as a sharp contradiction with its own stand before the Lok Sabha polls when a newspaper in January reported that the unemployment had reached the highest for 45 years.
A news flash by Times Now channel read, “#Breaking | GDP for Q4 falls below 6%; stands at 5.8%.” AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP took a postshot at the channel and sarcastically wrote, “This is astonishing. I mean it’s a limit. Now Times Now’s standard has fallen so low that it is forced to show news on GDP. Why are you bothered about such issues? Run some divisive Hindu Muslim story. Don’t get bogged down by GDP stories.”
ग़ज़ब है मतलब हद कर दी अब @TimesNow का ये स्तर हो गया GDP की ख़बर चलायेगा क्यों इन चक्करों में पड़े हो भैया @TimesNow ? कुछ चटखारेदार हिंदू मुसलमान चलाओ कहाँ GDP में उलझे हो https://t.co/eDArNitoLs
— Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) May 31, 2019
Joining Singh was his party colleague and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who wrote, “Now that people have voted after watching the country’s progress on TV channels, same TV channels are now showing that the country had not reached where it was shown to be a month ago. Now when the new government will beat the drums about its development, same channels will convince people with new data.”
कुछ दिन पहलें टीवी पर देश की प्रगति देखकर अभिभूत जनता ने जब वोट डाल दिया तो अब टीवी पर ही बताया जा रहा है कि देश वस्तुतः वहाँ नहीं है जहाँ टीवी पर एक महीने पहले तक दिखाया था.
ताकि नई सरकार जब फिर से ढोल बजवाएगी तो तरक़्क़ी के नए आँकड़ों से जनता को फिर से अभिभूत किया जा सके. https://t.co/UUZNo9OOep
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) June 1, 2019