India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma revealed that he was sent to Tihar jail during the Emergency imposed by the then Indira Gandhi government in 1975. Rajat Sharma also divulged that he was beaten up by the police before his arrest, the scars of which exist till date.
Speaking in ‘ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash’, the India TV Chairman reflected upon his initial days as a student and the struggles he confronted before getting into the field of journalism.
Upon being asked how his childhood and family was like, he said, “I was born in a very poor family. There was no water or tap at home, so I used to go to a street tap to take a bath. We used to bring two buckets of water for mother and sister. Those were tough days.”
Rajat Sharma on Emergency
Responding to the question if his father knew that he was slowly getting inclined towards politics, the Chairman said that it was the time when the JP movement had started in the country in 1974.
“That was the time in the country when the JP movement was getting started. I underwent a transition after meeting Arun Jaitley, Vijay Goel and I joined the JP movement. When the Emergency was imposed, people did not know that such big leaders were in jail and their rights had been snatched. We planned to print a newspaper named ‘Mashaal’. One day, when I was doing it in the candlelight, the police raided. They made me sit on a chair and tied my legs to a chair in front. I still have an assault scar on my legs. The next day, they produced me before a Magistrate court and sent me to Tihar Jail. That is a very painful story,” he said.
(With ANI inputs)
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