Said Manish Tewari, former union minister and Congress spokesperson, “Acerbic and obnoxious questions are thrown at the Congress by anchors and fellow panelists. What is happening is not structured discussion but looks like WWF (the American wrestling show now called WWE). Rajiv’s death should be a trigger for revisiting the debate formats on TV. For how long will the public space be vitiated for TRPs? I request the I&B ministry to cancel the licences of channels that violate the licensing code and regulation acts.”

बौद्धिक बात को बहस में और बहस को बदतमीज़ी में ढाला जा रहा है । राग द्वेष और हिंसा को टीआरपी के लिए पाला जा रहा है ।#RajivTyagi @NayakRagini @JaiveerShergill @INCIndia pic.twitter.com/asepMKmA4C

— Abhay Dubey (@AbhayDubeyINC) August 14, 2020

Mohan Prakash, Congress spokesperson said: “I have seen two-three generations of BJP spokespersons and TV anchors but never experienced such toxic debates and vulgar language. In my view, the standard has been lowered because of the influence of the top leadership, the hostile language spoken by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah on political rivals. It is not that these spokespersons do not have an adequate vocabulary. The abusive and threatening tenor is by choice.”

Gourav Vallabh, Congress spokesperson said, “I can understand what pressure Tyagi felt during the debate. Our patience and grit are tested daily. To begin with, the title of the debates is chosen mischievously to send out a divisive message, to create animosity in society. The title declares the BJP victorious even before the debate. The panel is carefully chosen — one BJP spokesperson, one RSS man, one expert with BJP links and one Congress spokesperson. When the debate starts, only the Congress spokesperson is questioned while the BJP spokespersons are protected by the anchors. We are abused and insulted, vulgar language is used against top leaders, baseless allegations are made. We hardly get time to respond; when we speak, we are either muted or the volume is reduced. Tricks like taking a break or technical disruption are also deployed.”

“Have you heard any debate on the attempts to dilute environmental laws or the new education policy in the past 15 days?” he added.