Has Punya Prasun Bajpai’s Master Stroke hit Modi bad?

So, it became the everyday story that Punya Prasun Bajpai’s Master Stroke, his celebrated show, used to come up with strong topic and powerful content. But it seems like July 2019 didn’t go well with this famed channel
and the top-notching star employees of ABP! Yes, right… we are here talking about journalists Punya Prasun Bajpai, Abhisar Sharma and Managing Director Milind Khandekar.

But what exactly happened that dragged ABP channel into this crisis? You might not able to find this answer so far, because no channel no newspaper is showing the bitter truth completely (or may be some
have shown it, but they got pressure from higher ministry to remove it!). But Our Point Of View is here to put forth not just our views on this, but also to bring some hidden facets of this Punya Prasun
Bajpai’s Master Stroke controversy! For providing you a good reading experience, we have divided the story in chunks!

1) Where it actually started?

20th June. PM Modi had a video conference with Chattisgarh farmers. Out of that, one lady (Chandramani Kaushik) said her income got double as a farmer now! And here PM Modi got the chance to show that he
is keeping his promise and working on doubling the farmers’s income by 2020.

2) Here comes Punya Prasun Bajapai’s Master Stroke (or a Master Shock)!

ABP news sent their ground reporters to this village and contacted Ms Chandramani. On questioning about the profit statement that she has passed in front of PM Modi, she said she didn’t make any profit!
To have further info, those reporters talked to the Sarpanch of that village. His words were – “one team from Delhi came to them and told them to say this lie in front of national Television”. Mr Bajpai
exposed this on his show Master Stroke on 6th July!

3) Expect the most Expected!

Post this, Ruling party’s ministers got offended and started tweeting against the news channel and Mr. Bajpai. One interesting tweet came from INB Minister stating some news channel wants to defame PM,
and he posted a link. In that link, Ms Chandramani was seen stating “I told those ground reporters about my income from pulp, not about the agriculture. In agriculture, we are making the profit!”

4) Time to Shout it back!

Mr. Bajpai again sent his ground reporters to the same village. This time they contacted different people. They all denied that they are making any profit out of PM Modi’s scheme. Ironically, one lady even stated that they aren’t getting back what they are investing even! The reporter then again approached Ms. Chandramani, and cross questioned her. This time she was all silent! She couldn’t utter even a half word! Punya Prasun Bajpai’s Master Stroke brought all these into light in the 9th July’s episode! (OPOV is requesting you not to judge that lady – Ms. Chandramani. We never know under which circumstances/pressure, she said those statements.)

5) Blacking out is the new trend!

If anything is going against you and you are powerful enough, just buy that or make that blur! This is what happened this time too. Post 9th July, Master Stroke starts getting blacked out! All channels works fine, except ABP and that too only during the telecast of Master Stroke (in between 9 to 10 pm). On contacting the
dish connection owners, they all clarified – it’s a Broadcasting issue, not a network one!

6) Pressure Building up?

First ABP sources confirmed that this problem is being created intentionally. Later sources from The Wire and Scroll also alleged that pressure is building up gradually on Milind Khandekar (Managing
Director of ABP). He was advised to keep Mr. Bajpai in control!

7) Oil added into the fire!

On 30th July, another fire eating journalist (Mr Abhisar Sharma) took PM Modi’s name in one of his show. One restaurant owner was assassinated in Lucknow’s posh area in the broad light. All got captured
on CCTV. On the same time, PM Modi was giving a speech and was calling people to invest in Lucknow stating it’s a safe place! So, Mr. Abhisar compared the both and showed both these Lucknow cases altogether! This didn’t go well with our dear Govt and the daring journalist got suspended for 15 days! (or sent for a 15-days holiday – as we have to say in a decent tone!)

8) Who n all had to left the field?

Milind Khandekar gave up this ship – resigned on 1st July, and Mr. Bajpai did the same on the very next day!

9) Time to spill some more beans!

Mr. Bajpai unfurl one inside info on 6th of Aug and said the ruling party has made a monitoring team of 200 people under additional director general of INB Ministry. This team is here to manipulate the news. They
all work to monitor and manipulate the news! They shape the narratives and then pass the compiled report to INB Minister, who further presented that to the PMO officials. Then directives are being issued to
the news channels of what to broadcast and what not to!

In the below link, Mr. Bajpai has revealed the story behind his exit from ABP news:

https://thewire.in/media/punya-prasun-bajpai-abp-news-narendra-modi

So, Punya Prasun Bajpai’s Master Stroke initially proved heavy on PM Modi, but later attacked him back badly! Sad but true! Instead of working in a workplace where you have to work as a puppet, it’s better
to quit from there. PPB and Mr. Milind must be in happy place now. Or may be under more pressure? Are we living in an Incredible India or Injured India?  Is Independent Media Suffocating in India? Is Media supposed to write and speak only in favor of the ruling party? Are we really living in a Democratic country?

First three questions we need to ask ourselves, but answer of fourth question is definitely YES! No matter what, we are still living in a democratic nation! But before this ‘Democratic’ turns into ‘Dictatorship’, we
need to come together and raise our voice against this. How? Let this answer come from you this time!

Use the comment section below and come up with your answer/queries/suggestions/criticism