Congress needs to act: Centre on India Today reporter’s assault in US

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said he had received a memorandum from journalists seeking action over the assault on India Today’s reporter Rohit Sharma by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s team in the US.
The Minister of Information and Broadcasting said he will send the memorandum to the Press Council of India so that they can take legal action in this case.
“Congress needs to act on this,” Vaishnaw told reporters.
Rohit Sharma, India Today’s correspondent in the US, was assaulted by Congress workers in Dallas when he was interviewing Indian Overseas Congress President Sam Pitroda ahead of Rahul Gandhi’s US visit.
Sharma said the Congress workers, who were members of Rahul Gandhi’s team, charged at him after he asked Pitroda whether the Congress MP would raise the issue of attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh during his discussions with American lawmakers.
Rohit Sharma also said his mobile phone was snatched, and he was asked to delete the interview. He was even confined in a room by around 15 men while Pitroda left for airport to meet Rahul Gandhi.
Sharma later said that Sam Pitroda called him to apologise for the incident and vowed to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condemned the attack on the journalist while taking a jibe at Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Mohabbat ki dukaan’ slogan.
“They (Congress) claim to be running Mohabbat ki dukaan. But a journalist of our country was subjected to cruelty in the USA by Congress. A son of India was insulted in the USA. Those who claim to be champions of freedom of speech indulged in brutality,” PM Modi said at an election rally in Jammu last week.