Cheena Kapoor
18 January 2021•Update: 18 January 2021
NEW DELHI
Indian opposition parties on Monday demanded a probe into a journalist's leaked chats which revealed that he had prior knowledge of sensitive national security issues, including air strikes on Pakistan and the repeal of Kashmir’s special status.
The WhatsApp chats were between Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV, and Partho Dasgupta, former CEO of TV rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).
“How did Arnab Goswami get to know about the Balakot strike three days before it took place? Even about the Pulwama attack, where 40 soldiers died. It is a question of national security and how Arnab was privy to such sensitive information. Will demand a high-level inquiry into this,” Sachin Sawant, spokesperson for Indian National Congress, the main opposition party, told reporters in the capital New Delhi.
The air strikes targeted the town of Balakot in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkwa province in February 2019 to avenge the killings of Indian troopers killed in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.
In response to the raid, Pakistan shot down two Indian aircraft and held a pilot, who was later released as a "goodwill gesture."
Calling it “chatgate,” the Congress party representative said he will be meeting the home minister of Maharashtra on Tuesday.
Shiv Sena, a regional party which governs the western state, has also demanded the central government for a judicial inquiry into the leaked conversations.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted that the latest revelations showed the "unholy nexus" between the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party and local media, and that it used the regional crisis to win the May 2019 election. He also called India's air strike a "false flag" operation.
While a spokesperson for the BJP refused to comment despite repeated attempts by Anadolu Agency, Republic TV refuted Pakistan’s allegations.
"What has become obvious now is a Pakistan-hand in the conspiracy against Republic," it said in a statement. "Republic is the inconvenient hurdle in their designs against India…India’s intention to hit back at Pakistan after the Pulwama attack was an official state position."
Leaked chats
Screenshots of alleged WhatsApp chats are a part of Mumbai Police's 3,600-page charge sheet in the television ratings scam.
The conversations suggest that BARC officials manipulated ratings in favor of Republic TV. In return, Goswami provided vital information about the Information Ministry to Dasgupta.
In October last year, police filed a case against three top channels, including Republic TV, for manipulating the points system and “using the ratings to spread wrong narratives.”
The Television Rating Point, or TRP, is a tool to judge which TV programs are viewed the most. It is a metric system that helps in determining advertisement rates.
Goswami is known for chairing chaotic prime-time debates and is seen as supportive of the ruling party. He was briefly arrested last November in an abetment to suicide case.
