Television news anchor and journalist Arnab Goswami on Tuesday targeted the Congress leader, Sonia Gandhi, for not raising her voice against the lynching of two sadhus in the Palghar district of Maharashtra.  Arnab Goswami blamed Sonia Gandhi for orchestrating the Palghar lynching.

“Would Sonia Gandhi have been quiet if Muslim preachers or Christian saints had been killed instead of Hindu sants,” Arnab said on his live show on Tuesday, in Hindi. “She’s quiet today, but I think she feels happy that Hindu sants were killed in a state where Congress has a stake in the government. She will send a report to Italy about the fact that she is getting Hindu sants killed in Maharashtra,” Arnab added.

The Congress party leaders and members have severely condemned Arnab Goswami for defaming their leader, Sonia Gandhi, and for spreading communal hatred on national television. The Congress party has also demanded the arrest of journalist Arnab Goswami in this regard.

Three residents of Mumbai were lynched by the residents in the Gadakchinchale village of Palghar district on April 16, mistaking them to be thieves. The men who were killed were reported to be Hindu religious leaders.

Satej Patil, Member of State Legislative Council in the Uddhav Thackeray’s Maharashtra Cabinet and Congress party member, shared a tweet condemning the act of Arnab. “Arnab Goswami has defamed INC President Hon. Sonia Gandhi Ji. He is also trying to incite communal hatred and trying to dismantle communal harmony in the society. The act is highly condemnable, and we are exploring all the legal options. Strict action will be taken,” MoS tweeted.

Haryana MLA and member of the Indian National Congress party, Randeep Singh Surejwala, tweeted, “Let PM remember that Smt. Sonia Gandhi has spent over 50 years of life in India, serving the country & being a witness to sacrifice her mother in law & husband. But your favourite abusive anchors won’t bat an eyelid before hurling filth. Silence is acquiescence, Mr. PM!”

Arnab Goswami had resigned from the Editors’ Guild while he was in the middle of a broadcast, accusing the body of hypocrisy over the Palghar lynching.