Saamana hits out at Amit Shah over Arnab Goswami’s arrest

Shah had blamed the Congress, which shares power with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, and its allies for “shaming democracy” while calling Goswami’s arrest on Wednesday “blatant misuse of state power”

Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Thursday hit out at Union home minister Amit Shah in an editorial for condemning Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami’s arrest for allegedly abetting an interior designer’s suicide in 2018. The editorial said the law prevailed in Goswami’s case as he was arrested after a grieving widow sought justice for her husband.

Union home minister Amit Shah. (File photo)

“This arrest is absolutely not an attack on the fourth pillar of democracy [media] like home minister Amit Shah has said. Many journalists have been arrested in Gujarat for writing against the government. In Uttar Pradesh, several journalists were killed. Nobody was reminded of the Emergency then,” the editorial said, referring to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states.

Shah on Wednesday blamed the Congress, which shares power with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, and its allies for “shaming democracy” while calling Goswami’s arrest earlier in the day “blatant misuse of state power”. “It reminds us of the Emergency [imposed in the 1970s]. This attack on free press must be and WILL BE OPPOSED,” Shah tweeted.

Other top BJP leaders and Union ministers also condemned the arrest. BJP’s Maharashtra chief Chandrakant Patil said there is an “Emergency-like situation” in the state. He added BJP workers in Maharashtra will wear black badges or black clothes until Goswami is released.

The editorial criticised the BJP for supporting Goswami while questioning his credentials as a journalist. It added the BJP allegedly tried to suppress the matter when it was in power in Maharashtra. “An innocent man and his mother killed themselves. His widow is crying for justice. Police followed the law.”

The editorial added the widow ran from pillar to post for two years for justice. It said a note recovered after the interior designer’s death by suicide said Goswami did not pay his dues and he killed himself due to the stress caused by it. “His widow has now moved the court seeking re-investigation into the matter and the police have only acted accordingly.”