Congress calls NewsClick raids ‘distraction’; Anurag Thakur ‘justifies’ them

The Congress on Tuesday said the raids on journalists linked to NewsClick were a "fresh distraction" from the findings of the caste survey in Bihar and the rising demand for a caste census in the country.

Delhi Police's Special Cell on Tuesday raided 30 premises connected with online portal NewsClick as well as the houses of its journalists, triggering widespread outrage.

Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said the crackdown was a "fresh distraction from the explosive findings of caste census in Bihar and the growing demand for caste census across the country".

"When he (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) faces questions from out of syllabus, he resorts to the only counter he has in his predictable syllabus — DISTRACTION," Khera said on X.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the government was trying to silence the outspoken journalists.

"Despite an army of sycophants, some journalists still dare to speak the truth. But the Prime Minister has a special problem with those who speak the truth and those who ask questions," she alleged.

Anurag Thakur's "justification"

The Congress leaders' remarks came a day after the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar released findings of its much-awaited caste survey months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The Enforcement Directorate had earlier raided NewsClick's premises to probe its sources of funding. The Special Cell raids follow the inputs provided by the central agency.

In Bhubaneswar, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur justified the raids, saying investigating agencies were independent and work as per law.

“I need not justify the raid. If someone has done something wrong, probe agencies work on it... Nowhere is it written that if you have got money through illegal manner or done something objectionable, then probe agencies cannot investigate that,” Thakur said.

(With agency inputs)