Threat to Journalist: Congress accuses RSS of muzzling press

NEW DELHI: The war of words between the Congress and the BJP entered a new dimension on Thursday after the ruling party accused the Sangh Parivar of muzzling free speech, citing a police complaint by a Delhi based journalist in which she had reported threatening calls in response to an article written by her about the RSS.

Stepping up its offensive against the Sangh Parivar, the Congress used the complaint filed by The Hindu newspaper’s senior journalist Vidya Subrahmaniam to attack Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and raised the question of what he would do to freedom of expression if he came to power.

Congress’ communications chief Ajay Maken said the journalist had filed a complaint in Delhi’s Parliament Street Police Station on October 15 in which she had complained about receiving threatening calls after she wrote that the RSS had reneged on a written undertaking to the country’s first home minister Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel that it would not be a political organisation.

Maken wrote a letter to Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde asking that the matter should be looked into urgently and the guilty are brought to book at the earliest. Shinde has ordered an investigation. Subrahmaniam, however, said that she had not asked the Congress to take up her issue. “I did get threat calls but did not go to Cong with it. Will never do. My journalism is not and will not be influenced by any party,” she said in a tweet.

The unusual intervention by the Congress had the RSS and the BJP crying foul as they blamed the ruling party of politicising the issue. “We condemn attempts to intimidate journalists and expect proper investigation into the complaint. But the Congress trying to make it a political issue is wrong and it reduces the chances of a fair investigation,” RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav said.

The BJP also blamed the Congress of cynically using the complaint.