Self-proclaimed ‘neutral’ journalist, Punya Prasun Bajpai seems to be having a tough time as he has been sacked from Surya Samachar, the news agency which he had joined just months after he had quit ABP News.
According to left-leaning purported news portal Newslaundry, former ABP news anchor Punya Prasun Bajpai and the 25 others who had joined TV news channel Surya Samachar, were informed on Tuesday evening that they will be laid off by the end of the month.
Reportedly, Surya Samachar has also issued a ‘Disassociation Notice’, which reads, “As per the decision of the management we notify you that your services have been disassociated with the company. Please consider 31st March 2019, as your last working day. All your payments will be cleared after obtaining dues clearance.”
The exact reason for why he was fired from Surya Samachar is yet to be known. Punya Prasun Bajpai quit his job at ABP News along with other 25 members in the August last year. Soon after his resignation from the ABP News, the Congress-backed ecosystem had blamed the Narendra Modi government for pressurising the promoters to sack him for carrying out a program against PM Modi’s ‘Man Ki Baat’ on their channel.
However, contrary to the popular media narrative, some reports suggested he was forced to quit the ABP News after he had indulged in fake propaganda and deliberate hit job against the Narendra Modi led NDA government.
Punya Prasun Bajpai, who is known for his rabid hate against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has often pushed his narrative through his media space. In one such incident, PM Modi had earlier spoken on the effectiveness of government schemes in doubling the income of farmers, following which news channel had confirmed the same with a lady farmer from Chattisgarh, Chandramani Kaushik.
Meanwhile, Punya Prasun had already thought of a hit job and managed to telecast an episode where he had claimed that the lady farmer was instructed by people from Delhi on how to reply to the Prime Minister. In his program, he managed to confuse the lady farmer to somehow get an answer that depicted that her income had not doubled. Soon, the video clip of that section of the program went viral on social media and it was even shared by Congress President on Twitter.
The narrative peddled by Bajpai’s program, that the BJP had doctored the woman’s interaction with the Prime Minister to boost its credentials, was soon busted by MyNation. The woman, Chandramani Kaushik, clarified that she had doubled her income not through rice farming but by processing the pulp of Sitafal (Custard Apple).
In a similar incident, PP Bajpai, in a hurry to malign the Narendra Modi government, had once got exposed by his own ignorance after he had said that insurance policies like Ayushman Bharat would push people towards death.
Bajpai’s quick exits from media houses is not new. In 2008, Bajpai and his team was sacked unceremoniously barely six months after he joined Sahara News’ Hindi news channel, Sahara Samay. He was reportedly removed almost overnight because Sahara’s own cameras caught him badmouthing Sahara TV during an interview with the then Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav. Top management took note and he was deemed a disloyal employee and asked to leave almost overnight.
Interestingly, Punya Prasoon Bajpai’s ‘neutrality’ came to limelight when he hosted a show with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, where both of them were caught speaking in a hushed voice where Kejriwal appeared to be telling Bajpai of playing up the part where he appears like a revolutionary.
