‘Thieves’: MoS Mishra lashes out at journalists over questions about his jailed son

Enraged over questions about the probe against his son in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni on Wednesday hurled abuses at ABP News journalist Naveen Awasthi and other media personnel present on the spot.

Teni and his supporters appeared to threaten reporters from other media outlets to turn off their microphones and cameras. The minister was also seen physically snatching the phone from one journalist. In another video that surfaced on Twitter, the minister was heard shouting expletives and calling the journalists “chor” (thieves).

The incident comes amid mounting pressure on the government to sack minister Mishra from the cabinet.

According to the Free Press Journal, Mishra was inaugurating an oxygen plant in his constituency Lakhimpur Kheri, a day after visiting his jailed son. He was calm as long as the reporters questioned him about the oxygen plant. But as soon as Awasthi mentioned his jailed son, the minister lost his temper. He claimed there is no chargesheet so the questions didn’t make sense.

Surrounded by Teni and his guards, the reporter mentioned the SIT report which suggested that the violence at Lakhimpur Kheri was a pre-planned attack.

“Yahi jo tumhare media wale hai na, yahi sale choro ne ek nirdosh aadmi ke liye banaya hai,” Mishra shouts at the reporter in the video, adding that he has no shame. He starts to walk away, but the camera moves around and the audio is unclear. Once the focus is on Teni again, he is seen walking back aggressively towards the reporter after a heated exchange of words.

NDTV reporter Alok Pandey uploaded a video of Awasthi where he detailed the incident. Awasthi said a question about his son enraged Mishra and he used words such as bewakoof, badtameez (idiot, ill-mannered) and yelled at the media. Mobile phones belonging to Awasthi’s team and Zee News reporters were allegedly snatched and still haven’t been returned.

In a separate tweet, Pandey claimed that “Ajay Mishra Teni should know journalists will keep on asking questions despite the intimidation”.

On October 3, 2021 three cars rammed into a crowd of protesting farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri. Two of the cars involved in the violence allegedly belonged to Teni’s son.

On December 15, a special investigation team that was probing Lakhimpur Kheri violence claimed it was a pre-planned conspiracy that led to the death of five people and left several injured.

Following the reports, opposition parties have demanded that Mishra be sacked from the ministry.

"It has been said that it (Lakhimpur Kheri incident) is a conspiracy. It obviously is. Everyone knows whose son is involved. We want the minister (MoS Home Ajay Mishra) to resign. We want discussion in Parliament, but Prime Minister refuses. They are making excuses," Rahul Gandhi said.

Update

The Press Club of India yesterday condemned the incident in a tweet, stating that they demand an apology from the minister.