Skip to main content

Anti-nuclear activist complains against Republic TV, says he, his family being harassed, facing security threat

By Our Representative
Top anti-nuclear activist SP Udayakumar of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) has complained to the News Broadcasters Association and the Press Council of India that well-known journalist Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV has been harassing him and his family.
In a letter, released on Thursday, he says, Goswami and his colleagues Shweta Kothari reached his home at Nagercoil on April 8 and introduced to him as “Shweta Sharma”, a “research scholar” from the Cardiff University in the UK, and sought help with her dissertation research. She was accompanied by her “local friend” Sanjeev.
Leaving after getting books, she requested Udayakumar on the next day “to stop by her hotel room as she had a few more questions”, telling him that “one of her British professors” was very keen on supporting struggle against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant.
On being told that the PNAME did not accept money from foreigners and its movement had “no bank account”, Kothari alias Sharma asked him if there was “any other way of donating money” to the movement.
On being further told that his personal account was “frozen” and that even their “party account could not receive foreign funds”, Udayakumar says, the Republic TV journalist was informed that donations could be given to his parents.
“I also mentioned clearly that I would give proper receipt and the money will be accounted for. I also informed her that we were not interested in getting foreign funds”, Udayakumar claims, adding, he was surprised that on June 20, “a so-called sting operation on him was telecast at 2 pm.”
Anti-nuclear protest off Tamil Nadu coast
Among the allegations made included that the struggle against the Koodankulam nuclear power project was funded by the Church with foreign donations, says Udayakumar, adding, “I took part in the very same panel discussion on Republic TV and clarified what had transpired. But Goswami was so abhorrent, abrasive, and even abusive.”
Pointing out that as he was taking part in the discussion from Kumbakonam town, where he was attending an agitation, Udayakumar says, “Republic TV reporter Sanjeev and three other men were standing in front of my home at Nagercoil from 2 pm till 11 pm that night harassing my parents aged 85 and 82 respectively, my wife and school-going son.”
“Sanjeev and his colleagues were hounding my family with their high-handed behaviour”, says Udayakumar, adding, “They were loitering about my house for hours together, talking to people and shopkeepers around my home and defaming me and my family.”
“Sanjeev and his team showed up at my home again in the morning of June 21, and started harassing my family all over again”, says Udayakumar, adding, “When my aged father objected to his ruthless behaviour, he fraudulently reported on his TV that I personally had scolded him.”
Clarifies Udayakumar, “I came to know about the whole incident when I came home in the evening”, he adds, “Sanjeev’s and his gang’s sole intention was to provoke me in some manner.”
Accusing Goswami’s TV of causing “mental agony and suffering” to him and his family, Udayakumar says, he fears safety and security of his family following “Goswami’s slanderous campaign” for three continuous days.
Calling it a “desperate attempt to raise the TRP rate”, Udayakumar says, “This kind of indecent and abusive behavior of an anchor and reporters is unacceptable”, adding, “The Republic TV and their reporters are crossing all limits and causing so much mental agony and suffering to me and my entire family”, even as seeking intervention from the twin authorities.

Comments

TRENDING

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

'Enough evidence' in Indian tradition to support legal basis for same-sex marriage

By Iyce Malhotra, Joseph Mathai, Sandeep Chachra*  The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage provides space for much-needed conversations on issues that have hitherto remained “invisible” or engaged with patriarchal locker room humour. We must recognize that people with diverse sexualities and complex gender identities have faced discrimination, stigma and decades of oppression. Their issues have mainly remained buried in dominant social discourse, and many view them with deep insecurities.

Delhi HC rules in favour of retired Air Force officer 'overcharged' for Covid treatment

By Rosamma Thomas*  In a decision of May 22, 2023, the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of petitioner Group Captain Suresh Khanna who was under treatment at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, between April 28 and May 5, 2021, for a period of eight days, for Covid-19 pneumonia. The petitioner had to pay Rs 3,55,286 as treatment costs, but the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) only reimbursed him for Rs 1,83,748, on the basis of government-approved rates. 

Urgency for next pandemic? But Mr Health Secretary, you're barking up wrong tree

By Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD*  The Union Health Secretary, Mr Rajesh Bhushan addressing the Health Working Group of G20 India, at Hyderabad on 05 June 2023, cautioned that the next pandemic would not wait for us to make global treaties and called on countries to work together.

Religious divide 'kept alive' with low intensity communalism in Gujarat's cultural capital

By Rajiv Shah  A fact-finding report, prepared by the Mumbai-based non-profit, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS), has cited the Vadodara Ram Navami violence of March 30 as yet another example of how, after the BJP consolidating its hold on political power in Gujarat post-2002 riots and at the Centre in 2014, the nature of communal riots has changed, underlining, as opposed to high-intensity violence earlier, now riots have become “more sub-radar and at a smaller scale, more localized”.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Why continued obsession with adding more 'water guzzling' coal, nuclear power plants?

By Shankar Sharma*  The true concerns over water inefficiency in coal power plants have been known and have been highlighted many times in the past. A highly relevant study report by Prayas Energy Group had highlighted this fast looming threat to our society many years ago. But our authorities have been acting as though there can be no issue with water supply, and that additional coal power plants can be added indefinitely; even without any true relevance to climate change.

Generative AI as 'potent weapon and shield' in battle of political misinformation

By Haziq Jeelani*  In the pulsating heart of the digital era, the political arena is ceaselessly molded by the swift and relentless flow of information. The line between fact and fiction often blurs, creating a nebulous landscape where truth and deceit intertwine. 

Kailash Satyarthi NGO rescues 12 child workers from high profile Gujarat private varsity

By Our Representative  In a rather grim reflection of the state of child labour in Gujarat, 12 child labourers, most of whom belong to Rajasthan tribal communities, have been rescued from the campus of a high profile private university in Rajkot by a team of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU), Labour Department, Centre for Labour Research and Action, and the Police.