Vikrant Shekhawat : Feb 05, 2021, 05:24 PM
NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Friday raised the issue of purported WhatsApp chats of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami in Parliament, saying the BJP-led NDA government "should be ashamed of protecting" him.While speaking in Rajya Sabha during the Budget session on Friday, Raut attacked the government on its handling of the farmers protest and the sedition charges being slapped against many prominent leaders and journalists.Saying that the government is slapping sedition on the alleged traitors, Raut rhetorically asked "You call these traitors. Are they traitors? So who is a patriot in our country? Arnab Goswami? Kangana Ranaut?""An innocent man committed suicide in Maharashtra due to him. He's the one who leaked the official secret of the country. He is at your service, under your protection. This is a matter of national security but you don't talk on it."Purported Whatsapp chats between Goswami and former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) head Partho Dasgupta got surfaced last month on social media.In the chats, which Mumbai Police has attached in the supplementary chargesheet in the TRP scam case, suggest Gowami was privy to the 2019 air strike by the IAF on the biggest Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camp in Balakot."This same man bad-mouthed Prakash Javadekar. You should be ashamed of protecting such a man," Raut said.Raut also raised the issue of Deep Sidhu's arrest, saying the government has arrested farmers but not Deep Sidhu."Our PM was sad at the insult of tricolour at Red fort. The whole nation was sad about it. But the one who insulted the tricolour at Red Fort - Deep Sidhu- Who is he? Who does he work for? You say nothing on that," said Raut."This Sidhu has not been arrested but over 200 farmers have been arrested and kept at Tihar jail with a sedition case slapped on them."Mumbai Police earlier told a lower court that Goswami had allegedly bribed Dasgupta with lakhs of rupees to ramp up Republic TV's viewership.