On Wednesday (May 3), the Editor-in-Chief of ANI, Smita Prakash, hit out at the former editorial advisor of Congress mouthpiece ‘National Herald’ for insinuating that she somehow lacked the spine of former Jammu and Kashmir Lt. Governor Satya Pal Malik.
In a tweet (archive), Smita Prakash wrote, “The former editor of National Herald is talking about the spine. You can leave (the virtue signalling).”
Without taking any names, the ANI Editor-in-Chief pointed out that the concerned individual had worked for the mouthpiece of a political party and thus have no right to question the ‘determination’ and ‘courage’ of other journalists.
The Background of the Controversy
The controversy ensued on Wednesday (May 3) morning when Smita Prakash posted a picture of ex-Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik. In the said image, Malik could be seen resting his back against a stack of pillows.
“Why?” the Editor-in-Chief of ANI asked a harmless question. Triggered by the tweet of Smita Prakash, the former senior editorial advisor of the National Herald aka Mrinal Pande wrote, “Why not? The spin is precious.”
Pande thus mocked Smita Prakash and suggested that she lacked the spine of Satya Pal Malik. The archive of the contentious tweet can be accessed here.
After being caught off guard, Mrinal Pande claimed that she worked as an ‘advisor/ consultant’ at the Congress mouthpiece. “I am and will remain a fan of Satpal ji’s rare clarity and courage. Twitter decides (as you know) who should comment on them and who should leave them,” she said.
It must be mentioned that National Herald posted a tweet on March 2018, announcing that ‘journalist’ Mrinal Pande had joined it as a ‘new Group Senior Editorial Advisor.” She has also written several op-eds and propaganda articles for the Congress mouthpiece.
Mrinal Pande had been at the helm of fake stories, surrounding the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and the founding of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).