Journalists 'Locked Up' in Moradabad Hospital Ward during CM Adityanath's Visit; Priyanka Slams Govt

New Delhi: Several journalists were locked up in an emergency ward of a hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district during Yogi Adityanath’s visit there on Sunday. The chief minister was visiting the hospital to interact with patients and their families.

The mediapersons were locked inside the room for around 25 minutes, with police personnel stationed outside to prevent them from reportedly covering Adityanath's visit. Despite multiple requests to District Magistrate Rakesh Kumar, they were kept inside and only after the chief minister’s departure did the magistrate unlock the door.

According to reports, Kumar did not cite any reason for restricting the media. The reporters were supposed to question the staff, patients and other people on-duty in the hospital.

After a video of the incident went viral on social media, Kumar denied the allegations on Twitter. He claimed that he had only requested the journalists to not enter the ward with the chief minister as it would be unhealthy for the patients.

Responding to the incident, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi said that the BJP government, which had come to power on the back of an absolute majority, was refusing to answer the public's questions.

"Journalists are being held captive, questions are being curtailed, problems are being ignored. The full-majority BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is turning away from people's questions. The public knows it all. It will ask questions and demand answers too," she said.

The Congress on Sunday also cited media reports to accuse the Narendra Modi government of indulging in "sheer vindictiveness" by freezing advertisements to some newspapers critical of the dispensation. The attack came after media reports claimed that the government has stopped providing advertisements to some newspapers critical of its certain policies and actions.