Deepak Chaurasia, who was assaulted at Shaheen Bagh, gives befitting reply to The Wire employee who downplayed attack

Deepak Chaurasia, Rohini Singh

Consulting Editor of News Nation Deepak Chaurasia was attacked at Shaheen Bagh by people protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Sharing a video from his ordeal on social media, he had said, “We are hearing that the constitution is in danger, we are hearing that the fight is to save democracy! When I reached Shaheen Bagh to show the same voice to the country, there was nothing less than mob lynching!”

The video that emerged was nothing short of shocking, with goons almost lynching Chaurasia. The video journalist accompanying Chaurasia was attacked as well and the camera was destroyed. According to him, there was no policeman at the site to protect him.

While most people expressed shock and unequivocally condemned the violence against Deepak Chaurasia by Shaheen Bagh goons, there were some who chose to shield the Islamist mobs by justifying the attack on him. From Marya Shakil of CNN News 18 to Arfa Khanum Sherwani of The Wire and even a columnist with Shekhar Gupta run The Print, the entire ecosystem proceeded to justify the attack against Chaurasia.

Read: From The Print to The Wire: How journalists justified the attack on colleague Deepak Chaurasia by Shaheen Bagh goons

One conversation was intriguing and brazen in particular.

Sreenivasan Jain of NDTV, speaking about Chaurasia said that he once used to be a fine journalist but has now stopped being one, presumably, because he has stopped toeing the line set be the ecosystem. He further said that the brand of journalism practised by Chaurasia has ‘consequence’.

To this, Rohini Singh of The Wire further, slyly, justified the attack on Chaurasia by saying that he really is not a “journalist” as per her.

https://twitter.com/rohini_sgh/status/1220940589799108610?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Giving a fitting response to Rohini Singh, Deepak Chaurasia lashed out at The Wire employee.

https://twitter.com/DChaurasia2312/status/1221700251863502848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Chaurasia said that he comes from a poor background and has done his journalism on his own merit. He said that his only fault was that he was not a “designer journalist” like Rohini Singh he had no contacts in the Finance Ministry through brokers like Nira Radiia. He added that he has also never received a 3 BHK apartment from any government for writing reports.

Read: Samajwadi Party friendly ‘journalist’ associated with The Wire caught spreading lies about Yogi Adityanath, deletes tweet after getting called out

Back in 2010, during the Congress regime, a scandal had come to the fore where journalists, including ones like Barkha Dutt and MK Venu (who is the founding editor of The Wire where Rohini Singh now works), were heard hobnobbing with corporate lobbying Niira Radia. MK Venu was heard requesting corporate lobbyist Niira Radia to introduce a journalist named ‘Rohini Singh’ to her (lobbyist’s) circle (of politicians, businessmen, lobbyists, etc.). Radia was believed to be using journalists as brokers for securing favourable deals for her corporate clients from the UPA government. Rohini Singh is currently working with The Wire as well. This is what Chaurasia was referring to when he said that he had nobody introduce him in the Finance Ministry.

Further, Chaurasia claimed that unlike Rohini Singh, he was not given a 3BHK apartment to write favourable stories by any government. Prior to the Uttar Pradesh elections, it was rumoured that Rohini Singh had received a 2BHK apartment by Samajwadi Party headed by Akhilesh Yadav to write favourable stories. This rumour was further given wind by the fact that though the writing on the wall was clear, till the day before the results, Rohini Singh was adamantly asserting that SP was coming to power in the state. Further, after the election results were announced, she had disappeared and gone off Social Media for months. These allegations have, however, only remained allegations and no proof to substantiate these charges have emerged yet. Interestingly, now Deepak Chaurasia has suggested that it was not 2 BHK but 3 BHK apartment that was given to Rohini Singh, something OpIndia can not independently verify.

Read: Nothing short of yellow journalism: Read SC’s scathing remarks against The Wire in Jay Shah defamation case

It is pertinent to note that The Wire is facing trial in a defamation case filed by Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah.

The case relates to an article written by Rohini Singh and published by The Wire alleging impropriety in business dealings of Jay Shah. Their article, which was riddled with glaring loopholes and inaccuracy, was decimated by us. Subsequently, The Wire had selectively altered its story, but the shaky ground on which the story stood remained as it was.

In response to the shoddy story, Jay Shah had slapped ‘The Wire’ with a ₹100 crore defamation case against them in a Gujarat court. Subsequently, the Gujarat High Court had issued a gag order on The Wire, preventing it from publishing anything on the matter. The High Court had observed that Jay Shah has a prima facie case against the publication.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia