Arnab Goswami’s Republic is, by its own admission, the most awaited ‘independent media venture’ of this year. Goswami has been travelling from city to city to garner support with his pitch ‘Join Republic, Join the Revolution’. After his venture launched, its official twitter handle garnered over 90,000 followers in just one month. Though there are questions as to how independent the media venture is going to be given the investment of Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is also vice-chairman of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in Kerala.

It appears now that Subramanian Swamy, a BJP MP, has taken umbrage to the use of the name, Republic. In a letter to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, dated January 13, 2017, he states that it is a prohibited name under the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 for “professional and commercial purposes”. Swamy states that the “grant of licence to a news channel to broadcast under the name of “Republic” will be contrary to law and a direct breach of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950.”