A front page article in the July 2 edition of Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi has not gone down well with a BJP leader in Kerala, so much so that he has announced that he will not read the newspaper again. 

Former minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan, on Wednesday, July 3, made an announcement that he would stop subscribing to Mathrubhumi, citing that the article was ‘against media ethics’.

A prominent Malayalam daily, Mathrubhumi had carried an article on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s speech in the Parliament on July 1. The article, which was titled “Nandi Rahul” (Thank you, Rahul) in bold red font, said how the Leader of Opposition sent a message about the strong presence of opposition in the Parliament as well as about the importance of an Opposition in a democracy. The article was accompanied by an illustrated image which showed Rahul Gandhi holding a bow and four arrows, depicting four of his arguments in the Parliament. 

This apparently triggered the BJP leader, who lashed out in a written statement that “while the newspaper had all the freedom to take their own editorial stand, the front pages should be kept only to report the news as it is”. He said that the front page of the July 2 edition appeared to be an editorial.

“The approach of unilaterally praising the opposition party in the country to the sky and placing a government that has come to power for the third time as the culprit is against media excellence,” he added.

He also accused the paper of having forgotten that the “BJP came to power for the third time because of “ten years of hard work of Narendra Modi”.

Muraleedharan, who was also formerly state president of the BJP in Kerala, said that he had been a subscriber of Mathrubhumi for the past five decades and that he will be stopping his subscription.

Rahul Gandhi had attacked the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that they were not true Hindus as they often resorted to violence, hatred, and lies. Pointing at ruling alliance MPs, Rahul Gandhi said that those (BJP, RSS) who claim to be Hindus practise violence, hatred, and lies 24*7. Amid commotion raised by the ruling alliance, he said, “This is a country of peace. This is not a country of fear. All of our founding fathers talked about peace and eradicating fear. On the other hand, Lord Shiva is also saying the same thing. But those who claim to be Hindus practise violence, hatred, and lies. It is written in Hindu religion that we should stand with the truth, we should not fear the truth, and peace is in our nature.”