The arrest of Republic TV network’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami by Mumbai Police has drawn sharp reaction from many of the senior Union ministers in the Modi government.
Information and Broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar, while condemning the Mumbai Police’s assault on Arnab, has lashed out at the way the press was being oppressed in the state of Maharashtra.
We condemn the attack on press freedom in #Maharashtra. This is not the way to treat the Press. This reminds us of the emergency days when the press was treated like this.@PIB_India @DDNewslive @republic
— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) November 4, 2020
Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has called the attack and arrest of Arnab as “seriously reprehensible.”
One can differ, one can debate and one can ask questions too. However arresting a journalist of the stature of #ArnabGoswami by abuse of Police power, because he was asking questions, is something which we all need to condemn.
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) November 4, 2020
Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has extended his support to Arnab Goswami and said that it is an attack on freedom of the press. In a tweet, he said that those who believe in freedom must speak up at this time.
Shades of the Emergency!
The arrest of Arnab Goswami is an attack on the freedom of press. Those who really believe in this freedom must speak up!— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) November 4, 2020
Union textile minister Smriti Irani has asserted that those in the free press who do not stand up today in support of Arnab are “now tactically in support of fascism.”
Those in the free press who don’t stand up today in support of Arnab, you are now tactically in support of fascism. You may not like him, you may not approve of him,you may despise his very existence but if you stay silent you support suppression. Who speaks if you are next ?
— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) November 4, 2020
Taking to Twitter, the Women and Child Development Minister said, “You may not like him, you may not approve of him, you may despise his very existence but if you stay silent you support suppression. Who speaks if you are next?”
