The India Today group has terminated the services of its Kolkata Based Deputy General Manager Indranil Chatterjee over offensive comments against president-elect Draupadi Murmu. The media group expressed regret for the ‘extremely derogatory post’ by their Kolkata based sales staff, saying that the post was hurtful and against the basic principles of human decency.
In the Facebook post that had gone viral yesterday, Indranil Chatterjee had commented that he can’t accept Draupadi Murmu as India’s president because she is Adivasi. Saying that he is old fashioned and proud about it, he had said that just like does not support gay marriage, he also does not support an ‘Adivasi President’.
He had written, “Few chairs are not meant for “All” & have a dignity attached to them. Do we allow a sweeper to perform Durga Puja? Can a Hindu teach at a Madrasah? These are nothing but cheap socio-political gimmicks of the ruling party in creating a Rubber Stamp Constitutional Head, so that laws can be passed easily showing middle finger to the Opposition parties.”
Indranil Chatterjee had added that election of Draupadi Murmu to the post of president of India is an insult to past presidents like souls like APJ Abdul Kalam, Pranab MuKherjee, S. Radhakrishnan, Zakir Hussain, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, Rajendra Prasad and others. “Baba Indra is against Medieval Age Caste Politics. Strictly my personal opinion,” he had added at the last.
Indranil deleted his Facebook account after his post became viral and created massive outrage on the social media. Following the outrage and bad PR the post was bringing to the organisation, India Today group today decided to sack him.
The statement issued by India Today Group Chief Executive Officer Dinesh Bhatia said that when Indranil was asked for an explanation for the post, he “admitted to his momentary lapse of judgement”. He apologised unconditionally and said he had already deleted the post within a few minutes, the statement added.
However, Indranil Chatterjee was sacked from his job by the media house because it was grave breach of code of conduct. “This was a grave breach of the India Today Group’s Code of Conduct. The employee’s services were terminated with immediate effect last night”, the statement informed.
The media house further added, “The India Today Group does not condone such actions. We uphold the highest standards of ethics and professional decorum.”
Notably, Draupadi Murmu won the presidential election over Yashwant Sinha yesterday to become the country’s next president. She was born to a Santal Tribal family on June 20, 1958, in the village of Uparbeda, district Mayurbhanj in Odisha. From 2015 until 2021, she served as Jharkhand’s honourable governor. She was the first female governor of the state as well as the first tribal leader to hold the position in an Indian state.