A complaint has been filed against senior journalist and consulting editor of TV Today Rajdeep Sardesai for inviting veteran anthropologist Nandini Sundar in his talk show on Monday.
The talk show, which was themed on Naxal conflict in the aftermath of the Sukma attack, had Sundar as one of the guests along with Minister of State for Home Affairs, Hansraj Ahir and IPS officer Dilip Trivedi. Sundar, who is well known scholar from Delhi University, is best known for her critically acclaimed books on Naxal conflict in India.
The complaint has been filed by a group which calls itself by the name Legal Rights Observatory (LRO). The complainant, Vinay Joshi, who belongs to the group has called Sundar an “overground Naxal worker who pursues relentless agenda of defaming our troops and glorifying blood thirsty Naxals and Maoists.”
Joshi blamed Sundar for promoting Naxal violence by cornering Indian troops and threatened the channel that he will file a complaint under the stringent UAPA act.
“With this email I am demanding stringent action against your Editor Rajdeep Sardesai and other members of the editorial board for the shameless act,” Joshi wrote.
Here is what she had said in the talk show:
#SukmaMartyrs The govt doesn’t seem to get it that this is not the way to conduct war against your own people: Nandini Sundar #NewsToday pic.twitter.com/DPAygrjNjw
— India Today (@IndiaToday) April 24, 2017
The complaint was shared by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri who is a right-wing sympathiser and is known Buddha In A Traffic Jam, a film on naxal conflict in India.
Legal complaint filed against @sardesairajdeep for inviting urban naxal, Nandini Sunder. This is how we finish Urban Naxals, one by one. pic.twitter.com/ekHoyTFH5n
— Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) April 25, 2017
However, his tweet came to Sardesai’s notice and he slammed the right-wingers for interfering in his TV show.
Now the RW loonies will decide who to invite on shows! Wow! Hate-mongers ok, scholars not! https://t.co/df6dFMDcSS
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) April 25, 2017
To which Agnihotri replied:
A person asserting his constitutional right = RW loonie, hate monger. A supporter of unconstitutional Naxalism, booked for murder = scholar. https://t.co/lLmP4iPVIo
— Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) April 25, 2017
(Feature image source: TV Screenshot | India Today)