During a TV debate show organised by ABP News, Journalist Rubika Liyaquat interrupted an audience member after he questioned Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia. The man also slammed the saffron party for attempting to win the elections on “nationalism” and “Hindutva” issues.
In a video clip shared on social media by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Dinesh Mohaniya, a person can be seen asking Bhatia, “Gauravji mera apse sawal hai. Gauravji sirf ek sawal. BJP ye election Hinduvad aur atangwad pe jeetna chahta hai. Aj vyapariyon ki kamar kitni tooti hui hai. Chota vyapari pe dhiyan hai koi (Gauravji I have a question for you. I just want to ask one thing. BJP is attempting to win this election by using the issues of nationalism and patriotism. Today, the backs of traders are broken. Is anyone paying attention to small traders?).”
एक व्यापारी ने जब कठिन सवाल पूछ लिया तो मैडम @RubikaLiyaquat ने सवाल ही घुमा दिया साथ ही झूठ परोस दिया भाजपा प्रवक्ताओं को फसता देख मैडम का भाजपा प्रेम जाग जाता है, बैशर्मी की सारी हदे पार pic.twitter.com/n5PdHN6LL2
— दिनेश ڈینش ਦਿਨੇਸ਼ (@DineshMohaniya) May 8, 2019
However, in a move that exemplified the state of the Indian mainstream media today, Liyaquat quickly took away the mic from the audience member and changed the topic saying there was other important ‘news’. “Mamata Banerjee is saying I’ll slap PM,” the ABP anchor said, hyping the unrelated remark in order to drown out the man’s question posed to the BJP spokesperson.
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The West Bengal chief minister had reportedly mentioned “slap of democracy” during one of her speeches, which many media outlets, including ABP News falsely reported as an actual threat to physically slap the PM.