A sharp exchange erupted on social media between Congress supporter Tehseen Poonawalla and YouTuber Abhisar Sharma on Tuesday after Poonawalla defended India against comparisons made by Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng during the recent controversy surrounding her interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and subsequent remarks at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) press briefing.
Poonawalla, while distancing himself from the government despite being a vocal critic of the BJP, argued that India’s media environment could not be equated with countries where freedom of expression is heavily policed. In his post directed at Helle Lyng, he wrote:
“I am amongst the voice of the opposition in INDIA & everyday I attack the government on television & social media, am severely critical of the PM & his ministers and no one has ever taken any action against me. I find it offensive you compare my country’s press freedom with Emirates or Cuba… Sure all INDIAN’s would want even greater freedom of speech but your comparison of freedom of media in INDIA being comparable with regimes that police FoS is absolutely false & unfortunate.”
The post, however, drew unsolicited criticism from YouTuber Abhisar Sharma, who accused Poonawalla of acting as an enabler of the BJP and abandoning his claimed opposition stance.
“Stop pretending to be a voice from opposition. You normalize hatred from the BJP and its followers. You are nothing but a sycophant of the establishment. Stop this charade of being a voice of the opposition,” Sharma wrote.
No Tehseen. You are still a sycophant of the current regime . And yes even Kanchan Gupta had got an appointment with the late Arun jaitley. And no one finally helped us. We won the case in court fair and square because the case was bogus. The same IRS officer SK Srivastava was… https://t.co/K1A7AobOEM
— Abhisar Sharma (@abhisar_sharma) May 19, 2026
The disagreement soon escalated into a broader online confrontation. During the exchange, Poonawalla responded to allegations from a social media user accusing him of being an “Adani agent” by making a counter-claim against Sharma.
Poonawalla alleged that Sharma himself had once sought an appointment with industrialist Gautam Adani in connection with legal proceedings initiated by the Adani Group. He suggested that Sharma had attempted to approach the businessman despite frequently targeting the conglomerate in his public commentary.
Bhai you are telling Abhisar that I, Tehseen am an "Adani agent !" 😂Just ask @abhisar_sharma here only : did he or did he not seek an appointment with Gautam bhai Adani meet him and ask for a favor and not to be acted against! Again very easy to call me names … !
— Tehseen Poonawalla Official 🇮🇳 (@tehseenp) May 19, 2026
Love ❤️
Interestingly, Sharma’s bravado quickly tapered off and he chose not to respond to Poonawalla’s assertion that he had sought a meeting with Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani.
The controversy appears linked to a criminal defamation case initiated by the Adani Group against Sharma and blogger Raju Parulekar.
In Sepetember 2025, a Gandhinagar magistrate court had issued notices to Sharma and Parulekar after the Adani Group filed criminal defamation complaints against them. Adani Group counsel Sanjay Thakkar reportedly stated that the notices were issued under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), requiring the accused to be heard before cognisance of an offence is taken.
The complaints invoked provisions under Sections 356(1–3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), corresponding to defamation provisions under the earlier Indian Penal Code.
The Adani Group alleged that Sharma had uploaded videos containing defamatory claims regarding land allotments and alleged political favouritism in Assam, while Parulekar was accused of making social media posts referring to purported “scams” and “political favours.”
The conglomerate rejected the allegations as “baseless and misleading,” stating that a Gauhati High Court order cited by the two did not refer to the Group.
