Solapur (Maharashtra): In the soup over his remark about “crushing” the electronic media, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde went on the defensive, claiming he had referred to the social media and that “media is my friend”. “Electronic media means social media. I have very good relations with the press in my last 40 years. How can I (make such comments)... Recorded speech is with me...Media is my friend,” he said here last night.
Shinde, who had stoked a controversy on Sunday evening by threatening to “crush” the electronic media, a section of which he alleged was engaging in “false propaganda”, said, “I was referring to social media and the violence incited against students from the northeast in Hyderabad and Karnataka. My comments were not about journalism.” Shinde's outburst came at a Youth Congress event.
