The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and the Congress party on Saturday targeted Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, alleging that he refused to take questions from a journalist at a press conference.
CJP and Yadav both posted videos purportedly showing Adityanath walking away from the press conference after allegedly refusing to answer a journalist's questions. The BJP has not yet reacted to the criticism.
CJP, Akhilesh slam Yogi government
CJP posted a video of the alleged incident and claimed that the UP chief minister walked away while a reporter continued to ask him questions.
“This is exactly why we rank 157th out of 180 on Press Freedom Index,” it wrote.
Yadav, meanwhile, said Uttar Pradesh has an “overflowing” number of questions, but the BJP-led government has “no answers”.
{{/usCountry}}Yadav, meanwhile, said Uttar Pradesh has an “overflowing” number of questions, but the BJP-led government has “no answers”.
{{/usCountry}}In a Hindi post on X, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said a press conference should be called a "press monologue" if journalists are expected only to hear statements and are not allowed to ask questions.
"Those who keep changing names should now change the name of 'press conference' to 'press monologue', because when only a statement has to be given and the press has no right to ask questions, what meaning does the word 'conference' have without dialogue?" he asked, without naming anyone.
"The truth is that there is a flood of questions in Uttar Pradesh, but they have no answers," Yadav said, adding that turning away and leaving the field could also be described as running away.
Yadav slams ‘one-sided rhetoric’
He alleged that the BJP-led government follows "discrimination" in governance and promotes "one-sided rhetoric" during press conferences.
"What next, will they also say that they are not in the mood to listen to questions?" he asked.
Congress joins attack
The Congress claimed that the woman journalist was removed from her job after she tried to ask a question at Adityanath's press conference. The party alleged that she was surrounded and threatened at the BJP office, with the threats reportedly including bulldozer action.
Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai, in a statement, said denying a journalist employment and security for asking questions reflects the "dictatorial" nature of a government that claims to provide good governance.
Rai said the alleged incident was not only an attack on the journalist but also a direct assault on the fourth pillar of democracy. He said the Congress stands with journalists and will oppose such actions.