IT Raid on Dainik Bhaskar: Union Minister Anurag Thakur furious for asking questions, said – Income Tax Department will answer this, not the government

During the press conference, Union Minister of Sports and Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, took a dig at Dainik Bhaskar on the question of being raided. Instead of answering, he ended the press conference by wearing a mask on his face. After the conference was over, he was again asked to answer on this question, then he said, why would the government answer it? Why would I answer this? The answer to this will be given by the Income Tax Department. The government has no interference in this.

In fact, when a journalist asked him a question about the beating of a journalist who had gone to cover the farmers’ dharna in Jantar Mantar, he quickly replied that today it happened to one journalist, tomorrow it will happen to someone else. You must understand that the people sitting on the dharna are not actually farmers. But as soon as Dainik Bhaskar asked another question related to journalists and journalism, he got furious.

The question was, ‘What would you say on this which was raided on Dainik Bhaskar and Bharat Samachar? Isn’t this an attack on the freedom of the press?’ His reply was, ‘This raid has been done by the Income Tax Department. You should ask the question to the Income Tax Department, not the government. I or the government will not answer in this. But on the second question, Anurag Thakur got furious.

Asked the reporter – show when the Home Minister gave the statement
Dainik Bhaskar asked the Union Minister, ‘Home Minister Amit Shah had issued a statement on July 19 in the phone espionage case and said that you understand the chronology, this list was released a day before the monsoon session. So is there no need to understand the chronology of Raid on Dainik Bhaskar too? A media house publishes reports questioning the government and it gets raided?’

Instead of answering this question, Anurag Thakur got furious and asked when did the Home Minister say this? Pointing towards the mobile, he said, ‘You show, when did he give this statement? You should understand that Red does not put the government or any of its ministers but the concerned department puts. The answer should also be asked from him. The government does not obstruct the work of any department.

But the question arises that was Anurag Thakur really not aware of Home Minister Amit Shah’s famous statement in Pegasus case or was he intended to provoke the journalist by asking this question and confuse him and prevent his real question from arising?

What was Amit Shah’s chronology statement?
In the case of spying of journalists’ phones, on July 19, Amit Shah had issued a statement saying that the time of the leak of this so-called report and then this disruption in Parliament … you understand the chronology! This is a report on India’s growth hindrances to India’s growth deterrents. While issuing a statement in this matter, Home Minister Amit Shah called it a ‘conspiracy to defame democracy’.

Raid on Dainik Bhaskar’s office
Several offices of Bhaskar Group were raided by the Income Tax Department in the early hours of Thursday. The teams of the department reached the offices located in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan and took action. Along with this, the IT team has also raided the homes of many people working in Bhaskar. Mobiles of the employees present in the offices have been confiscated and they are not being allowed to go out.

The photo is of Dainik Bhaskar’s Bhopal office. The Income Tax Department team had reached here late night for the raid.

Night shift workers were also barred from leaving the office. Officials involved in the raid say that this is part of the process and they are being let go after the Panchnama is done. Digital’s night team was released from the office at 12:30 pm. Wherever the raids took place, including Bhopal and Ahmedabad, many women employees were also present in Bhaskar’s digital wing. The top officials of the team have not clarified any reason for this action so far.

Why did Anurag Thakur hold the press conference?
Union Minister Anurag Thakur held this conference to launch the Cheer for India campaign to boost the spirits of the Indian team in the Olympic Games. As soon as the journalists wanted to question him on Pegasus or the issue of farmers, he was stopped. He said that this conference should ask the same question on which matter.

However, many journalists present there laughed at this and said that what can be the questions on the Cheer for India campaign? What questions to ask on this? On this, Tejashwi Surya, president of the party’s Yuva Morcha, who came to the press conference with Anurag Thakur, and Nishith Pramanik, who recently joined the Union Cabinet, could not stop laughing.