Mangaluru, Jan 31, 2020: Mahesh Vikram Hegde, the co-founder of website Postcard News, was allegedly heckled by a group of women at Mangaluru airport Friday morning and asked to sing Vande Mataram to prove his “Indian-ness”.
Hegde was spotted by Karnataka Congress spokesperson and social worker Kavita Reddy at the airport where he was waiting to board a plane to Bengaluru. His website ‘Postcard News’ is notorious for carrying pro-Hindutva propaganda and many of its posts have exposed as fake news by fake news tracker Altnews.
In a video that has surfaced on Twitter, three women belonging to the Anti-CAA lobby can be seen heckling journalist Mahesh Vikram Hegde at an airport. The women have been identified as Kavitha Reddy, Najma Nazeer and Amulya Leona.
They coerced Hegde to sing “Vande Mataram” and prove his patriotism “for the country”. One of the women called him the member of “nationalist gang”. The one with the camera, Kavitha Reddy, asked the journalist in an absurd manner whether he knew the time when Nathuram Godse assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.
In another video, the supposed “women activists” told the journalist that he was getting an opportunity to become “hero” from “zero” by singing Vande Mataram and “Sara Jaha se Aacha.” The hecklers were persistent but Hegde managed to maintain his composure and often smiled embarrassedly.
The incident comes just days after the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Republic TV Arnab Goswami was heckled by comedian Kunal Kamra on a plane.
Excerpts of today’s event with @mvmeet, that people haven’t seen yet. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/N8MDrdWJ1m
— Amulya Leona (@AmulyaLeona) January 31, 2020
After Amish, Sudhiar, Deepak it’s the turn of Arnab of the South & star fake news peddler Mahesh Hegde of Post Card to face humiliation.
— Akash Banerjee (@TheDeshBhakt) January 31, 2020
Too ashamed to sing Vande Mataram?
Proud of you @KavithaReddy16 @amulyaleona & @najmanazeerRJ but be ready to be airport banned by papa Puri! pic.twitter.com/qn1QeO4jtV