Romila, Naseer, Dreze among 750 citizens to come out in support of NewsClick

More than 750 eminent citizens, including historian Romila Thapar, economist Jean Dreze and actor Naseeruddin Shah, on Wednesday came out in support of a news website which is alleged to have received dubious funds to spread Chinese propaganda.

The allegation was levelled against NewsClick following a report in the New York Times.

Expressing solidarity with NewsClick, the group of more than 750 citizens said in a statement, "The hounding of NewsClick is an attack on the freedom of expression enshrined in our Constitution."

"It is an attack on the conscientious role of independent journalism in a democracy to inform its readers about the government's failings and to hold the government accountable," said the statement signed by Zoya Hasan, Jayati Ghosh, Harsh Mander, N Ram, Bezwada Wilson, Aruna Roy, Colin Gonsalves, Prashant Bhushan, Anand Patwardhan and Ratna Pathak Shah among others.

It said the New York Times report "does not allege any violation of the law by NewsClick".

The report was also raised in Parliament when BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said the funds pumped into NewsClick were used to create an anti-India environment and that he had documents pertaining to e-mail exchanges between Left leader Prakash Karat and American billionaire Neville Roy Singham.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur had also alleged that China, NewsClick and the Congress are linked to an "anti-India umbilical cord". The BJP leader had cited a report in the New York Times which claimed that companies linked to China were funding the news portal.

The Enforcement Directorate, as part of its criminal investigation against NewsClick, its promoters and others, is probing alleged fraudulent foreign funds infusion of more than Rs 86 crore from entities linked to Singham into its holding company (PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd).

The agency had first raided the premises of NewsClick in Saidulajab area of the national capital in September 2021 on charges of money laundering and since then the probe is continuing besides the litigation between the two sides in the Delhi high court.