Two weeks after Rajya Sabha TV anchor, Neelu Vyas, complained against a senior Rajya Sabha official for continuous harassment, she was taken off air on the orders of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu.
Vyas had accused the Rajya Sabha official, who is purportedly close to Naidu, of messaging her and interfering with her work, and also of passing “sexually coloured remarks”, reported The Wire.
Sources in the Rajya Sabha secretariat told The Wire that in a letter written to Naidu, Vyas had said, “It is highly unfortunate that the high offices of Vice President of India and Rajya Sabha Chairman are failing to discharge their duties as established by law and practice in providing justice in cases of harassment of women. It was never easy for me to gather courage to protest and lodge a formal complaint against a senior officer, who openly flaunts his proximity to you, and stand up to fight for my rights.”
“But the subsequent course of events now suggest that our system is reacting in a manner that is vindictive and conspiratorial against a victim of harassment… I seek justice and I wish to submit that if justice is denied to me, I will be compelled to approach National Commission for Women and/or honourable courts of justice,” she added.
Vyas was reportedly penalized for asking a question about Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 1942 undertaking that he would not participate in any anti-British movement. During a live discussion on August 16, Vyas asked Vijay Trivedi, author of a 2016 biography of Vajpayee, Haar Nahi Maanoonga, “How did he reconcile to the fact that I am not going to raise slogans (against the British) … because he was always known for his nationalistic fervour.”
RSTV is owned by the upper house of parliament and thus, is answerable to the Vice President of India and the Chairman of the house – Venkaiah Naidu. The day-to-day management is done by an editor-in-chief and CEO.
A.A. Rao, an additional secretary in the Rajya Sabha secretariat, demanded from Vice President Venkaiah Naidu that action be taken against RSTV. An angered Venkaiah Naidu forced RSTV to run an apology and to take the anchor off air. RSTV editor-in-chief Rahul Mahajan, wrote a memo dated August 22, 2018, accusing Neelu Vyas of raising an “unsubstantiated allegation” against the former prime minister, who passed away on August 16.
Vyas was then verbally told that she would be off air for two weeks and the channel ran a ticker, apologizing for the question the anchor had asked. However, she has been benched for one month now.