A sudden shift of trends on Twitter and a very abrupt hashtag, #ChaiBiscuit starts trending. Who are these ‘chai biscuit wale patrakar’ and why NDTV and ABP journalists are being called goons? Recently, a video from Mumbai has gone viral which, at first look, seems to be a street fight. No, they were not fighting over cutting-chai and biscuit, if you are thinking so.
चाय से सत्ता आती है, चाय बिस्कुट से सत्ता जाती है #ChaiBiscuit pic.twitter.com/BPTeHywaS1
— sohit mishra (@sohitmishra99) September 25, 2020
The incident happened on Thursday, when designer Simone Khambatta was summoned at the South Mumbai office of NCB and as usual journalists in large numbers gathered to cover it. Pradeep Bhandari, a TV journalist associated with the Republic TV, allegedly called a local journalists ‘chai biscuit wale patrakar’. The video was shared on September 24th by Bhandari on his Twitter account and is going viral ever since. While many individuals sympathized with Bhandari, most of the journalists criticized his derogatory words.
जानते है महाराष्ट्र में सच बोलने की क़ीमत क्या है?
कार्टेल के नामी-गिरामी चेहरे जैसे-जैसे एक्सपोज़ हो रहे है, उनका ग़ुस्सा और बढ़ता जा रहा है।जब पुलिस से भी काम नहीं बना तो आज NDTV और ABP के गुंडे पत्रकारों को मेरे पास हाथपाई करने भेज दिया। लेकिन मैं टूटने वालों में से नहीं हूँ। pic.twitter.com/z2fvH2KkUK— Pradeep Bhandari(प्रदीप भंडारी)🇮🇳 (@pradip103) September 24, 2020
In his tweet, Pradeep Bhandari is referring to recent events of assaults for speaking against Maha Govt. and calling journalists of NDTV and ABP “goons”.
Another journalist of NDTV, Saurabh Gupta tweeted his reply to Pradeep Bhandari’s comments, “To #ChaiBiscuit as reporters that’s all that we eat on some days on the field. So if someone calls us #ChaiBiscuit reporters, we are very proud of it. We swear by it! In solidarity with #ChaiBiscuitReporters who slog it out on the field everyday.”
To #ChaiBiscuit As reporters that’s all that we eat on some days on the field. So if someone calls us #ChaiBiscuit reporters, we are very proud of it. We swear by it! In solidarity with #ChaiBiscuitReporters who slog it out on the field everyday. pic.twitter.com/IwhWWspKgJ
— Saurabh Gupta(Micky) (@MickyGupta84) September 25, 2020
Rajdeep Sardesai while targeting the Republic TV tweeted, “An image which perhaps defines the TV media in banana republic times. When a ‘noise’ channel hires private security to ‘protect’ their so-called reporter from fellow journalists: it’s a sign of the channel having lost the most precious TRP: TV RESPECT POINTS of your peers!”
An image which perhaps defines the tv media in banana republic times. When a ‘noise’ channel hires private security to ‘protect’ their so called reporter from fellow journalists: it’s a sign of the channel having lost the most precious TRP: TV RESPECT POINTS of your peers!🙏 pic.twitter.com/cVWSx0HUf1
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) September 24, 2020
Journalists are continuously sharing pictures of them having chai and biscuits and tweeting using the hastag #ChaiBiscuits to show solidarity with their fellow journalists.
Here a look:
Some more #ChaiBiscuit for journos in #Mumbai today. At the NCB office. 💪👊 pic.twitter.com/iuFwZwmhgv
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) September 25, 2020
Not a chai drinker, but in solidarity with reporters! #ChaiBiscuit pic.twitter.com/vSw9qScAlj
— Zeba Warsi (@Zebaism) September 25, 2020
