The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday slammed the BJP-led Centre over raids at online news portal NewsClick's premises, saying it is "scared" of journalists.
Delhi Police's Special Cell on Tuesday morning conducted raids at 30 premises connected with NewsClick as well as its journalists' houses, triggering outrage among scribes.
AAP chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar alleged that the Modi government is pretending to fight China by arresting its own journalists because it didn't have the courage to engage with it directly.
"There are two types of journalists in the country — there are those who have surrendered before Modi ji and who are being rewarded every day by Modi ji. And then there are those who are fighting for the country and exposing the shortcomings of the Modi government.
"Modi ji is a coward. He is threatening those journalists by arresting them on ridiculous charges," Ms. Kakkar told PTI.
She alleged that China made forays into the Indian territory, yet the Central government could not gather courage to snap commercial ties with it.
"China occupied our land, but Modiji did not have the courage to speak a word against China. By arresting these journalists, they are pretending to fight China. If you have the guys, stop all the trade with China.
"Today's action shows that Modiji has failed vis-a-vis the China situation. In the name of fighting China, they conducted raids on some journalists," she said.
The Enforcement Directorate had earlier conducted raids at the firm's premises probing its sources of funding.
The Special Cell is now continuing the searches on the basis of inputs provided by the central agency, officials said.
The raids at the news website's premises were made in connection with a case filed against it under the anti-terror law UAPA following allegations that it received money for pro-China propaganda.
