Ashok Chavan writes to Rajnath Singh seeking safety of Ravish Kumar, Rajdeep Sardesai

Maharashtra Congress president and former chief minister, Ashok Chavan. (File photo)

In a letter addressed to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress leader Ashok Chavan on Thursday expressed concern over the safety of senior journalists Rajdeep Sardesai and Ravish Kumar who have been allegedly receiving death threats on social media. In the letter, the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra refers to the buzz on social media websites regarding the alleged threats given to the two television journalists by “a section of netizens who disapprove the views expressed by them in their respective programs.”

Calling it a dangerous trend, Chavan cited murders of other journalists like Gauri Lankesh and rationalists like Narendra Dabholkar, MN Kalburgi and Govind Pansare as a direct attack on the fourth pillar of the democracy. “These murders are a shameful chapter in the history of independent India for all of us as duly elected representatives of people sitting in the parliament,” the letter said.

Stating that Sardesai and Kumar are “simply doing their job in a democratic manner”, the president of the Maharashtra unit of Congress asked the Home Minister to take immediate action to ensure that no physical harm is caused to the two journalists and to “hunt for those who are apparently fanatically minded enough to give such threats and book them under the law.

Chavan urged the NDA government to take action “before yet another ignominy” takes place.

Read the full letter below:

Ashok Chavan’s letter to Home Minister Rajnath Singh. (Source – Twitter/@ani)