Kejriwal Accuses Modi Government of Killing Independent Media After ABP Exits

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday accused the Narendra Modi government of being behind the resignations of two senior journalists from the TV channel ABP News, and charged that the Centre was trying to finish off independent media in the country.

What Kejriwal said

The Aam Aadmi Party leader made the allegation on Twitter. Calling a free press the lifeline of democracy, he said the two departures within two days were further proof of the government’s intentions. “Media should rise now, otherwise it will be too late,” he wrote.

Within a span of two days, ABP’s editorial head Milind Khandekar and anchor Punya Prasun Bajpai left the channel, and its flagship programme, Masterstroke, was taken off the air.

The Masterstroke report

One of the channel’s programmes had covered the Prime Minister’s interaction with a woman from Chhattisgarh who said her farm income had doubled after she moved from growing paddy to growing sitafal (custard apple). Masterstroke later interviewed the same woman, who said officials from Delhi had coached her before her conversation with the Prime Minister to say, falsely, that her income had doubled.

A few days after that broadcast, viewers reported problems watching the programme, citing disturbances and blackouts. As the matter spread on Twitter, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore criticised the channel and questioned its journalistic ethics.

Why it matters

The resignations turned into a political issue, with the Delhi Chief Minister framing them as part of a wider attempt to curb media freedom, while a Union minister questioned the standards of the programme itself.

See also: Political leaders

Originally published on 4 August 2018. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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