They were arrested for allegedly posting objectionable content on social media against U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday chided Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for behaving “foolishly” while demanding the release of the two journalists and a channel head who had been arrested by the U.P. police for allegedly posting ‘objectionable’ content about Mr. Adityanath.

Party general secretary for U.P. (East), Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, too hit out at the State government over the arrest of journalist Prashant Kanojia and the editor and the head of a Noida-based TV channel.

“If every journalist who files a false report or peddles fake, vicious RSS/BJP sponsored propaganda about me is put in jail, most newspapers/ news channels would face a severe staff shortage,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted. “The U.P. CM is behaving foolishly & needs to release the arrested journalists,” he added in the post on his Twitter handle.

If every journalist who files a false report or peddles fake, vicious RSS/BJP sponsored propaganda about me is put in jail, most newspapers/ news channels would face a severe staff shortage.



The UP CM is behaving foolishly & needs to release the arrested journalists. https://t.co/KtHXUXbgKS — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 11, 2019

Tagging Mr. Gandhi’s tweet, Ms. Vadra tweeted in Hindi, “Instead of working on the issues of the people, the UP government is cracking the whip of fear on journalists, farmers and representatives.”

The Congress chief's comments on a section of journalists peddling fake and agenda driven news come at a time when his party has decided not to send its spokespersons and panellists to take part in any television debates.

Following the 2019 election debacle, on May 30 the Congress had announced that it would not send any of their representatives to take part in TV debates.

Though the party had never officially stated the reason behind this move, insiders claimed that a majority of the TV channels were biased against the party and the presence of a Congress representative would only give them an opportunity to legitimize their ‘one-sided debates’.