NITI Aayog, in partnership with the Government of the United States of America, is hosting the eighth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit from November 28-30, 2017. This is the first time the Global Entrepreneurship Summit is being held in South Asia.

The event hopes to empower Indian entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas, build partnerships, secure funding, and create innovative products and services that will transform societies for a better future. The event, to be held in Hyderabad, will be addressed by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi. The US delegation will be led by Ms. Ivanka Trump, Advisor to President Trump.

While the event has very noble intentions, social media users were irked by the presence of the name of one entity in the list of partners. Veteran journalist Kanchan Gupta pointed out that of all the media houses possible, NDTV had been named as the media partner, for the event, which is being co-hosted by the Niti Aayog:

See #cheerleaders? See and learn. @BDUTT once said ‘so what if people don’t watch @ndtv, policymakers watch and take this channel seriously.’ @NITIAayog proves her right. #SmackedInTheFace and how! pic.twitter.com/p2mb5Ofz47 — Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) November 26, 2017

The same NDTV whose anchors are know to conduct debates entirely based on fake news, when the news is anti-Government. The same NDTV whose promoters are under the lens of the IT Department for tax fraud. The same NDTV which launched an attack on the Government, when the CBI raided its founders for investigation tax fraud. The same NDTV which itself is under scrutiny of the Income Tax Department for concealing income.

- Advertisement -

The same NDTV which had recently published a hit-job on Jay Amit Shah, which was taken down and never came back again, due to “legal vetting issues”. The same NDTV which earned a ban from the Government for irresponsible coverage of the Pathankot incident. The same NDTV which refused to apologize for this “error”. The same NDTV which doubles up as NGO to block development projects via the NGT.

Since alert social media users knew about NDTV’s infamous past, they lashed out at the Government for this partnership:

So na khaaunga na khaane doonga man @narendramodi wants Taxpayers money to go to @NDTV whose CEO is accused in Hawala, via this useless @NITIAayog .. CC @AmitShah As a BJP Member I wanna hear your views on this https://t.co/fE4Hry9zTr — S G (@ShrrinG) November 26, 2017

Dear @narendramodi NDTV had filed a petition agnst Sagarmala Project, today Your think tank Niti Aayog is partnering with them. They share fake news and hate your govt. Jokers still go to them. Zero self respect. pic.twitter.com/KDaLZ6DsdZ — Ashu?? (@muglikar_) November 26, 2017

How can a channel under investigation be a media partner to a GOI program @smritiirani ? It stinks!!! https://t.co/4xlqZ0uUJT — karthik ramani (@karthikramani1) November 26, 2017

Another user pointed out the futility in partnering with NDTV, which has a dwindling TRP share:

This is not for the first time that people have been angered over a government department or agency collaborating with NDTV. Earlier in May 2016, similar sentiments were witnessed when Ministry of Textiles had announced a partnership with NDTV for promotion of handloom products:

shame on you for choosing to partner with #BreakIndia forces. What competency does NDTV have in textiles? — Drome (@dromeconsulting) May 12, 2016

However, the Ministry of Textiles cancelled the partnership with NDTV a few weeks after the social media outrage. The same was confirmed after our columnist Ashutosh Muglikar had sought information through RTI.

It remains to be seen if the latest outrage and anger could also result in some corrective steps taken by the government.