Aaj Tak prime time anchor Sudhir Chaudhary, who was scheduled to deliver a talk at IIT-Bombay, was uninvited by the prestigious institution after he allegedly used derogatory remarks against former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on his show.
Chaudhary was earlier invited to talk on journalism and entrepreneurship at an annual business conclave – E-Summit 2024, scheduled on February 4.
After his remarks on Soren, he was replaced by ShopClues founder Radhika Aggarwal, newslaundry reported.
On January 31, Chaudhary, on his primetime show Black and White, questioned Soren’s tribal identity and SC/ST status commenting on how the former CM could live in ‘big bungalows’. The anchor further said that Soren’s ‘night in jail’ would be like “going back by 20, 30, 40 years like an Adivasi to the jungle”.
This is not the first time that Chaudhary has been accused of misinformation. In September last year, the Karnataka police registered an FIR on allegations of spreading fake news about a commercial vehicle subsidy scheme of the Karnataka government for minorities.
The FIR claimed that the Congress-led government was providing the scheme that benefits only the minorities and not the non-minority Hindus and that the government was doing minority appeasement in the state. He also claimed that it is causing injustice to Hindus.
Students object to Chaudhary’s remarks
Condemning Chaudhary’s remarks on the former Jharkhand CM, students wrote to the administration stating they did not want ‘him to be given such a big platform’.
Speaking to newslaundry, one student said, “Chaudhary is a big hate-monger. So we did not want to give him any kind of platform. His remark over Hemant Soren’s arrest was the peak. If IIT still invites him, then it is like sending a message.”
Hemant Soren’s arrest
Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, a central investigation department, in an alleged money laundering case connected to a land scam, on January 31. He resigned soon after following which, Champai Soren was sworn in as the new chief minister on February 2.
According to ED allegations, Soren is the chief beneficiary in the land scam case.
“We have evidence that Hemant Soren had grabbed some parcel of land under probe in Jharkhand, which was illegally obtained by others through falsified documents,” an officer was quoted by Hindustan Times on the condition of anonymity.
