Every penny he has received from NewsClick is accounted for, journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta said in Kolkata on Thursday.
“I am not an employee of NewsClick. I am not a director, not a shareholder. I am a consultant. Each and every penny I took from them was credited to my bank account. Every penny is accounted for. The income tax department is aware of it. I have nothing to hide. But suddenly, I read in the newspapers that I took money from China,” said Guha Thakurta, who was questioned for hours by Delhi Police on Tuesday, the same day the cops raided NewsClick and arrested its editor-in-chief, Prabir Purkayastha.
Guha Thakurta was one of the speakers at a mass convention that protested the “authoritarian” policies of the Narendra Modi regime.
“I was questioned. Did I cover the farmers’ protests? I said yes, it was my job. Then they asked if I reported on the Delhi riots. I said I did not but others did. They asked me about my interactions with a Hong Kong-based person and another based in Australia. I said I spoke to the gentleman in Hong Kong for an interview. The gentleman in Australia, they (interrogators) could not get his name right, he runs a website. I write for the website and they pay me. I send them an invoice and they credit my bank account. Same for NewsClick,” Guha Thakurta said.
The convention in Kolkata, organised by a platform called Bengal Against Fascist RSS-BJP, demanded unconditional release of activists arrested during the Delhi riots and repeal of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the three proposed bills that seek to replace the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act.
Among other sections, Purkayastha has been charged under the UAPA. Critics have alleged that the anti-terror law is frequently misused by
the government to target dissenters.
“Prabir Purkayastha is 75. He is in Tihar Jail now.... The FIR alleges that they are terrorists, that they are against the territorial integrity of the country. Is this even possible? That just a handful of people can change the map of India,” Guha Thakurta asked.
He linked the BJP’s unleashing of central agencies on dissenters and activists to its concern over losing the numbers in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.