With the last phase of polling, tempers are at their highest. A quick snapshot of the worst of the verbal diarrhoea unleashed on voters, rival candidates and of course…the media!

I will hit you: Furious Mani Shankar Aiyar threatens journalist

Stirring up a fresh controversy, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Tuesday threatened a journalist with physical assault. Mani Shankar Aiyar lost his temper with TV reporters who met him at the Punjab government guest house and questioned him over an article he wrote, in which he recalled a slur he directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017.

“Don’t you know there is a person in India, Narendra Modi. Haven’t you heard about his sharp attacks. Go and ask him questions,” he told them in Hindi.

“No, he doesn’t talk to you as he is a coward. He doesn’t talk to the media,” he said.

Then he raised his arms, waiving them about in an apparent imitation of PM Narendra Modi.

He also made a fist at the reporters and pushed away a microphone. “You won’t ask me any question”, he warned one of them.

Mani Shankar Aiyar also said, “I will hit you,” in response to a question asked by the journalist. Even after the journalist apologised to the leader, Mani Shankar Aiyar continued with his tirade and used foul language at the scribe.

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Media attacked in Bengal’s Barrackpore, Zee News reporter injured

see video here

Editors Guild asks EC to take action

The Editors Guild of India has condemned several incidents of physical attack on journalists in West Bengal on Thursday, during the fifth phase of Lok Sabha election 2019.
Journalists belonging to Zee News and other media organisations were allegedly attacked by Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers at different polling stations. In Barrackpore, a Zee News reporter was injured in the attack.
Therefore, the Editors Guild has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take action against those who indulged in such acts.
“Physical attacks against journalists are always reprehensible, but particularly so during elections as they undermine fair media scrutiny of an election, the Editors Guild said in a statement.
The body has asked the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in West Bengal to ensure law and order in the state so that journalists are not attacked by political parties and they can perform their professional duties safely.
Violence marred the fifth phase of polling in West Bengal, where the interim voter turnout was 74.4 percent. Seven seats in the state voted during this phase.

See report here

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Tamil Nadu: Congress workers beat up journalist for taking photos of empty chairs at party meeting

A photojournalist was attacked for clicking pictures of empty chairs at Congress election meeting in Tamil Nadu.

The journalist from a Tamil weekly magazine was assaulted by Congress party workers, while he was taking photographs of empty chairs at the party’s election meeting in Tamil Nadu.

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