Anti-nuclear activist SP Udayakumar accuses Arnab Goswami and Republic TV of harassing him and his family

On Wednesday, anti-nuclear activist SP Udayakumar wrote a letter to the Press Council of India (PCI) alleging harassment by Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV and its reporters. He wrote, “I write to bring your kind attention to the ongoing deceit and harassment of me and my family by Mr Arnab Ranjan Goswami and a few of his colleagues such as Shweta and Sanjeev from the Republic TV.”

In 2011, Udayakumar, convenor of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), had spearheaded the protest against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu.

On June 20, Republic TV aired a ‘Super Exclusive’ report — #ActivismForPrice. In the report, Goswami’s reporter Swetha Kothari claimed that the channel had stung Udayakumar on camera and exposed his “willingness to accept money from abroad” for anti-nuclear activism. Kothari had posed as a ‘research scholar’ working on her dissertation. In the tape aired by Republic TV, she is heard saying that her British professor, who is “pro-anti-nuclear” activism and is a “very passionate environmentalist” would like to donate money.

Udayakumar is heard saying that he can’t accept foreign funds but it can be re-routed through an Indian citizen. He also mentions that if money is sent to his party’s bank account he will “give a receipt”.

Later, Udayakumar refused to accept any donations from the said foreign professor.

In his letter to the PCI, Udayakumar has hit back at Goswami and said, “…Mr. Goswami was so abhorrent, abrasive and even abusive” when he went on a panel discussion on Republic TV to clear the air. He also wrote that Republic TV’s reporter Sanjeev and his colleagues were “hounding” his family: “Republic TV reporter Sanjeev was standing in front of my home at Nagercoil from 2 pm till 11 pm that night harassing my parents aged 85 and 82 respectively, my wife and school-going son. He was insisting on their responding to their so-called sting operation. Even after they told him that I was out of town, he and three of his colleagues were hounding my family with their high-handed behaviour.”

He has stated that Sanjeev “fraudulently reported” that Udayakumar had personally had scolded him.

The anti-nuclear activist has requested the PCI to “stop this anti-people TV from hurting me and more people in future”.