New Delhi: The media wing of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) went through a major reshuffle Friday after it missed adding the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in a note prepared to showcase the Narendra Modi government’s achievements in the last one year, ThePrint has learnt.
The existing team has been replaced by a new team, which will now be led by Director General-Bureau of Outreach and Communications Nitin Wakankar, who has earlier been the spokesperson of Central Bureau of Investigation.
According to sources, the government was “unhappy” with the media wing for a “series of errors”.
On 28 May, the official Facebook page of the MHA accidentally uploaded a photo of a table with two Royal Stag liquor bottles, whiskey-filled glasses and some bar snacks, in a post that was ironically aimed at showcasing the government’s restoration efforts after cyclone Amphan hit West Bengal.
Although the junior employee, who accidentally uploaded the post, was asked to give a written explanation for the same, the government was irked with the media wing for not “monitoring” social media properly, sources told ThePrint.
This apart, the wing missed putting the CAA as one of the achievements of the government, following which the decision to replace the team was taken.
“There were some internal issues as well, but not mentioning the CAA in the list of achievements may have been a tipping point,” a source said.
When ThePrint reached out to a senior MHA official, who didn’t want to be named, he said: “These transfers postings were routine.”
Also read: Modi govt delays announcing CAA rules as it fears move could ‘add fuel to fire’
Other transfers
The outgoing DG-PIB (Press Information Bureau), Vasudha Gupta, who was until now handling the MHA’s media wing, has now been transferred as the DG-PIB Fact Check Unit.
The new team headed by Wakankar will have Rajkumar as the ADG, Praveen Kavi as the deputy director, Anku Lahoty as the assistant director (news), and Amandeep Yadav as the assistant director (media and communication), PIB.
In other reshuffle, Deputy Director, PIB, Virat Majboor, will now be the Deputy Director (News), All India Radio, and Shelat Harit Ketan will be the Deputy Director, DPD (Department of Publication Division), New Delhi. Ketan was earlier the Deputy Director, PIB.
Also read: ‘Assault on press freedom’ — Editors Guild seeks MHA action against attack on journalists