Rahul Gandhi insults veteran journalists of Congress beat; Pallavi Ghosh hits back

New Delhi: Miffed with journalists asking for his reaction on allegations levelled by BJP, disqualified Congress MP Rahul Gandhi offended veteran journalists of Congress beat during a press conference on Saturday.

He accused a few journalists including CNN-News18’s Pallavi Ghosh and Ravi Sisodia of working for the BJP.

Also read: Congress threatens Aaj Tak's Sudhir Chaudhary

After snubbing Sisodia who asked a question after Ghosh, Gandhi quipped, “Kyun, hawa nikal gayee?”

An offensive Ghosh took to Twitter to express her to hit back at Gandhi and his party.

Two questions were asked - 1. BJP says u tore the ordinance and hence you faced the law 2. BJP says OBC has been disrespected .. where was the need to attack the reporter ? And shocking that some fellow journos laughed

— pallavi ghosh (@_pallavighosh) March 25, 2023

Ghosh said that the two reporters who were targeted have covered the party for years.

“The only badge we carry and wear is our Mike,” Ghosh said.

On the same issue but on a different note, Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair wrongly insinuated that the snubbed journalist belonged to the news agency ANI.

ANI editor Smita Prakash hit back at Zubair for spreading misinformation.

Fault news again speaking with a forked tongue, he is not ANI reporter. But jhooth phailana toh uski aadat hai. https://t.co/796FwlINfT

— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) March 25, 2023

The press conference also witnessed questions about his grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who was disqualified in 1975.

On June 12, 1975, Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court delivered a historic verdict, convicting her of electoral malpractices and debarring her from holding any elected post under the Representative of Peoples Act.

The verdict is widely believed to have led to the imposition of an Emergency on June 25, 1975.

Indira Gandhi won the 1971 Lok Sabha elections from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh by defeating Janata Party’s Raj Narain. Narain challenged her election alleging electoral malpractices, claiming that Indira Gandhi's election agent Yashpal Kapoor was a government servant and that she used government officials for personal election-related work.  

Justice Sinha disqualified her from Parliament and imposed a six-year ban on her holding any elected post. While the Emergency was in force, the Supreme Court later overturned her conviction on November 7, 1975.

The verdict changed the course of India’s history. The imposition of the Emergency and Indira Gandhi’s subsequent defeat in the 1977 Lok Sabha elections were the direct results of Justice Sinha’s judgment.  

48 years later, Indira Gandhi’s grandson faced disqualification from Lok Sabha and it appears to have affected both with similar intensity. The only difference is that the latter is not in power and hence not eligible for invoking an Emergency.