A video of NDTV's Anurag Dwary confronting Madhya Pradesh minister Kailash Vijayvargiya over the Indore water contamination tragedy went viral on New Year's Eve. According to NDTV India, 14 people died from the contamination in the city’s Bhagirthpura area. Dainik Bhaskar listed the number of casualties at 14 and published their photos on their front page today. 

When asked by Dwary why responsibility was being discussed only for junior officials and not for senior leaders, Vijayvargia responded with “Oh, leave it, don't ask useless questions”. 

When pressed further on how families were struggling with medical bills with no reimbursements coming in, the minister lost his cool and used abusive language, to which Dwary confronted him, demanding answers to his question, respect and decorum. The minister later apologised on social media, expressing regret for his language and vowing to address the tragedy.   

In an attempt at damage control, the minister hopped on a scooty without a helmet to meet with the families of the deceased, but ended up exposing the poor state of the roads of a city in a state that the BJP has been in power for almost two decades.   

According to NDTV, “Investigators have traced the contamination to a leak in the primary drinking water pipeline near a public toilet beside the Bhagirathpura police outpost. Officials suspect that sewage entered the drinking water line through this breach.” The state government, however, has not yet announced the number of people who died because of this contamination.

The story gains greater significance given that Indore has been consistently ranked India’s cleanest city for eight consecutive years by the Centre’s Swachh Survekshan survey.

Yes, Indore is consistently ranked as India's cleanest city, holding the top spot for eight consecutive years in the Swachh Survekshan surveys by the Central government. In fact, according to reports, the city has received hundreds of crores in taxpayer money for water-related infrastructure. 

NDTV, the channel that first brought the story to national attention thanks to that exchange between a BJP minister and its executive editor, Anurag Dwary, did not host a primetime debate on the tragedy. In fact, one of its X posts that went viral was also deleted. 

Instead, NDTV India ran a communally-charged 'Hindu Rashtra vs Sharia' debate. There was a later segment hosted by anchor Syed Suhail (45:20 to 57:00) that highlighted the victims of this tragedy, why it may have happened, the BJP government’s response, and the Opposition’s attacks based on their team's on-the-ground reporting, but there was no debate on this issue. 

Their English channel, NDTV 24x7, also ran a similar segment recapping what happened based on Dwary’s reporting, while highlighting how Vijayvargiya was ‘confused’ over the death toll. However, there was no primetime debate or discussion over this tragedy. Instead, they organised a debate on the trouble brewing in the Opposition INDIA bloc. 

The channel hosted no primetime debate even though Dwary, their executive editor, had done a series of heartbreaking stories, including this one on the death of five-and-a-half-month-old Ayvaan. According to Dwary’s report, the baby's mother, whose body was unable to produce milk, fed her baby Ayvaan packaged milk mixed with a bit of tap water, following her doctor’s advice. It's the same water that killed a five-and-a-half-month-old Ayvaan.   

What other channels did

Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami led a debate on primetime, making some serious allegations against the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh. 

“What happens when the air you breathe kills you, and the government says in Parliament that there is no link between AQI and the people's health. What happens when the water kills you?... Hundreds of people in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, have been in the hospital for the last few days due to contaminated water. And the government says we don't really have a clue,” he said in his opening monologue. 

Goswami went on to accuse the BJP government in MP of doing "casualty management" by "trying to manage the numbers of people who have been declared to have died". 

“We want to be Viksit Bharat, but in our country today, officially, 10 people died because of contaminated water and no politician's head rolls. People are dying in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, of contaminated water supplied by the Indore municipal corporation. Children are dying. Adults are dying. The Madhya Pradesh government is busy managing casualties,” he added.  

While there was nothing substantial on India Today, its sister channel, Aaj Tak, stayed with the story. Anchors Shweta Singh and Sayeed Ansari followed up on the story on primetime, but neither hosted a debate. Shivani Pandey on News18 India also followed up on the story, as did Poonam Burde on their sister channel CNN News18. There was no primetime debate, though.

Times Now Navbharat’s Sumit Awasthi followed up on the story on his ‘ChakraView’ segment, criticising the government for their negligence, calling out individual ministers, talking about the suffering of children and asking pointedly whether this is the state of India’s ‘cleanest city’. The channel also reported on “major negligence” in Indore's new Narmada pipeline. However, there was no primetime debate on the tragedy.

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