On 16th September 2023, Congress leader Pawan Khera said that if journalists boycotted by the I.N.D.I. Alliance ‘realise what they are doing is not good’, then the alliance will again attend their shows. He made this statement in response to a question about the list of journalists released by the I.N.D.I. Alliance on 14th September 2023 wherein it was mentioned that the parties in the opposition alliance will not send their representatives to the shows hosted by the journalists mentioned in the list. Pawan Khera said this ahead of the two-day Congress Working Committee meeting.
Pawan Khera said, “I do not agree with the word ban. We have not banned anyone. We have not boycotted anyone. We have not blacklisted anyone. This is a non-cooperation movement. We will not cooperate with anybody spreading hatred in society. We are not stopping them from spreading hatred. You want to spread hatred? Go ahead. Do it. You have the freedom to do it. We also have the freedom not to be partners in that crime. They are not our enemies. We do not hate any of these friends of ours in the media. They may have their compulsions. And nothing is permanent.”
Pawan Khera further said, “If tomorrow they realise that what they were doing is not good for India, not good for the society, believe me, we are all together in this. We will again start attending their shows. So do not call it a ban. We are distancing ourselves from that path in a Gandhian way.”
Pawan Khera added, “We have the freedom to change our path if anyone pours garbage on us every day while walking on that path. We are exercising that freedom. It is nothing different than this. All the parties in the I.N.D.I. Alliance unanimously accepted that we need to change our way. We don’t want to be part of this sin by walking on this path. Therefore, you don’t call it a ban. You don’t call it a boycott. You don’t call it a blacklist. This is civil disobedience.”
It is notable that Aditi Tyagi, Aman Chopra, Amish Devgan, Anand Narasimhan, Arnab Goswami, Ashok Shrivastav, Chitra Tripathi, Gaurav Sawant, Navika Kumar, Prachi Parashar, Rubika Liaquat, Shiv Aroor, and Sudhir Chaudhary have been listed as anchors whose shows will not be attended by representatives of the I.N.D.I. Alliance.
A copy of the list was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Congress leader Pawan Khera on September 14, Thursday. The I.N.D.I. alliance has decided that these are the anchors whose tough questions they are not willing to answer and would only perhaps entertain those anchors who ask Sonia Gandhi whether she knows how to cook pasta.