Following the arrest of "conservative news anchor" Arnab Goswami on Wednesday morning in the alleged suicide case of interior designer Anvay Naik, New York Times (NYT) was brutally trolled on Twitter after it called Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena "a progressive political party".
"One of India’s most famous TV journalists, the conservative anchor Arnab Goswami, was arrested on charges of abetting a suicide in Mumbai, where a progressive political party is in power. The move was criticized by some as an attempt to muzzle the press," NYT tweeted.
The published article quoted "some commentators" and said "what the Mumbai authorities were doing was similar to the pressure that the Modi administration has put on progressive journalists elsewhere."
"In recent years, Indian news outlets, particularly the television networks, have taken an increasingly conservative turn. Supporters of Mr. Modi and his governing Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, often brand critical voices as “anti-nationals,” as though equating patriotism with support for the current government," the article further read.
Meanwhile, Twitter users dug up an old NYT article wherein the publication house called the then Balasaheb Thackeray-led Shiv Sena "a militant party". In a 1973 article titled 'A MILITANT PARTY UNSETTLES INDIA', NYT had written, "The party's militance is underlined by its name, Shiv Sena, which means “the army of the Sivaji (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj).” In the Marathi language, Sivaji was a 17th‐century hero who advanced deep into the territory of what was then the Mogul Empire."
For the uninitiated, there have been numerous occasions when Shiv Sena workers have "beaten up people". Recently, Shiv Sena workers had beaten up a 62-year-old retired Navy officer in Mumbai, for forwarding a cartoon of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on WhatsApp. In a separate incident, Shiv Sena supporters thrashed a man in Mumbai's Wadala and shaved his head after he posted a derogatory comment about Uddhav Thackeray on Facebook.
Twitter users, meanwhile, brutally trolled NYT on Wednesday. "Militant Party has now become a Progressive Party," a Twitter user wrote. "If your entire world view is Modi hate, this is how things look. Whoever opposes Modi is progressive,even a party that’s run by dynasts, came to fore by targeting people from other states, routinely uses violence to silence opponents & beats up journalists critical of its leaders (sic)," wrote another Twitter user.
Here are a few Twitter reactions:
