A false statement allegedly made to denigrate the Congress party — that it has a registered office in Turkey, with which India severed business ties for its pro-Pakistan stance — has put Republic TV anchor Arnab Goswami and BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya in a conundrum after the party lodged a criminal complaint against them.
The Congress party, on Tuesday, May 20, filed the complaint with the High Grounds police station in Bengaluru over a statement by anchor Arnab Goswami suggesting that the Congress party has a registered office, and falsely identifying the Istanbul Congress Centre — a convention facility in Turkey — as such. The statement was later shared by BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya on social media, drawing the allegation that this amounted to wilful dissemination of misinformation with political intent.
The controversy originated from a segment aired on May 15 during Arnab Goswami’s primetime debate show, where visuals of the Istanbul Congress Centre were shown and it was claimed that the building belonged to the Congress party, though the footage in question appears to have been edited out of the version now available on YouTube.
Goswami further accused the Congress of maintaining ties with Turkey, which he described as hostile to India, and he asserted that Rahul Gandhi had expressed a desire in 2019 to establish a major party office in the country.
Amit Malviya shared a clip of the programme on his X account and echoed the claims made on Republic TV, framing the alleged office as a matter of national concern and questioning the motivations behind the Congress party’s overseas activities. The Indian Youth Congress responded by condemning the statements, asserting that the allegations were not only defamatory but also aimed at discrediting the office of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and it emphasised that such attacks posed a threat to democratic norms.
Although the Congress had announced plans in 2019 to open a unit in Istanbul and appointed Mohammad Yusuf Khan to oversee its operations, no updates have followed, and Turkey is currently not listed on the Indian Overseas Congress website, as reported by fact-checking outlet Alt News.
Republic TV has since issued a clarification, stating that the image used in the report was uploaded due to a technical error by its digital team and was corrected once discovered, though the Congress party argued that an apology alone was insufficient.
Despite the legal action initiated by Congress, Malviya reiterated his stance by reposting the contested video clip on social media, suggesting that the First Information Report had been filed over the same content and downplaying the seriousness of the complaint.