Baijayant Panda kicks up row with tweet over police action on scribes

BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda courted controversy when he likened last week's police action on journalists in Odisha and Maharashtra to the alleged harassment meted out to scribes in Pakistan.

Taking to Twitter, the former MP, while condemning the "custodial interrogation" of a reporter from OTV -- a channel owned by the Panda family -- said "fascism" must be opposed.

He also urged people to extend support to the OTV reporter and another journalist of Republic TV, who, he claimed, had a similar experience in Maharashtra.

"#FreedomOfSpeech. Shameful how Maharashtra & Odisha police simply pick up & assault journalists & do custodial interrogation, without following the basic process of law, like in Pakistan. This is real fascism. Please speak up for Ramesh Rath of @otvnews & @pradip103 of @republic," the senior BJP leader tweeted on Saturday.

Panda further claimed that the Odisha police carried out raids even when it lacked proper warrants and interrogated the OTV scribe without following the due course of law.

"You (government) may not like a particular channel or what they are saying, they may be very loud and obnoxious but that is what freedom of speech is about," he said.

The former MP also alleged that the crackdown happened as the channel was about to expose a massive scam involving Covid-19 money disbursed the Union government to the state.

"Here the police is behaving like this, without following any rules, without any due process of law, they pick up journalists and take them away, assault them, torture them. It is real fascism, must be opposed," Panda added.

OTV has said that the police took action after the journalist filed a news item on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's "fake aerial survey" in the midst of floods.

The Odisha police, however, maintained that a journalist of OTV was questioned and his mobile phone seized in connection with a case related to the alleged circulation of a morphed video of BJD MP Chandrani Murmu in 2019.

Strongly reacting to Panda's tweet, a host of leaders from the ruling BJD slammed the former MP for "comparing Odisha with Pakistan". Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra described his former colleagues statement as "unfortunate".

"Quite unfortunate that Shri. Jay (Baijayant)Panda @PandaJay feels Odisha has become Pakistan, the same state that sent him both houses of the Parliament. The same people of Kendrapara who ensured it. The same Tulasi Khetra. This is an insult to every Odia and Odia culture as well," he tweeted.

BJD MLA Pranab Prakash Das, in a statement, said Panda has shown disrespect to the people of Odisha by "comparing the state with Pakistan".

"Nothing more shameful than comparing your own state with Pakistan. Colossal disrespect for the Odia culture and the people of Odisha. Hope better sense prevails and this of insult for the people of Kendrapara, the entire state stops here!," Das said.

The office of Baijayant Panda, on its part, said that the ruling party was "trying to push false propaganda".

"Jay Panda has not compared Odisha with Pakistan, rather he said that both Maharashtra and Odisha police are behaving like the police in Pakistan. BJD is trying to twist the meaning," his office tweeted.