ABP News journalist Gyanendra Tiwari was heckled by BJP workers during a live show at poll-bound Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur on Thursday. The clash between the anchor and a group of BJP workers was captured in the show, snippets of which were widely shared on social media.

Tiwari’s show Janta Zindabad featured BJP and Congress members to discuss issues ahead of the assembly election in the state. As he went over to Congress workers, he was seemingly accused of not giving the BJP workers enough time to speak. 

He then addressed the BJP workers and said in Hindi, if they do not want to speak to him, they may not. “Aapke mantri Vishwas Sarang agar Shivraj Singh Chauhan ka naam nahi le rahe hain, matlab aapko pareshani hain.” (If your minister Vishwas Sarang is not taking Shivraj Singh Chauhan’s name, it means you have an issue.)

Later, a BJP worker cut in and asked Tiwari how he could take the chief minister’s name.

Why couldn’t he, Tiwari demanded, and then accused the party workers of acting like “goons” on camera. “Aap camera par gundagardi kar rahe hain, BJP ke log gundagardi kar rahe hain,” he said. 

Tiwari then said he would continue asking questions even if he was “killed”. Slamming “BJP’s democracy”, he said: “Ye yahan par loktantra hain. Ye BJP ka loktantra hain...main koi bhi baat kehne se gurej nahi karta. Aapko agar maarna hain, peetna hain toh iss gate se nikalne se pehle meri laash bicha dijiye.” 

Loosely translated: “This is democracy, this is BJP’s democracy. I don’t hesitate in saying anything. If you want to assault me, then kill me before I exit this venue.”

Tiwari is the same anchor who once crusaded against superstition on ABP News. It was a noble undertaking, to do a “reality check” on a self-proclaimed godman’s “miracles”. Sadly, things took a turn and Tiwari’s show ended up venerating mythmaking instead. Read all about it here.