Mumbai: On Tuesday at 11 am, Republic Bharat’s Special Investigative Team (SIT) broke the biggest political investigation “Operation Bikau Sansad” which proved that there are politicians elected into Parliament who are up for sale across parties and ideological lines.
To amplify the buzz and magnify the awareness of the investigative stories, the channel has partnered with FTA channels like Enterr10, Dangal, Bhojpuri Cinema, Fakt Marathi, 9xm, 9XMJalwa, Tashan, Jhakaas and Masti. This unique partnership has enabled Republic Bharat to engage with the vibrant Hindi speaking audiences in the Hindi heartland which target both urban and rural audiences. To strengthen the reach and presence, cross promoting on FTA channels forms a key facet of the brand strategy. The collaboration aims on tapping the potential of the rural-urban population in the HSM through aggressive strategy on content and with its pace of innovation in breaking the news. Republic Bharat has already created a storm by becoming Top 2 in the Hindi news genre with 138 million reach.
“Operation Bikau Sansad” was a breaking news in itself and was promoted rigorously on these FTA platforms, to empower people with truth ahead of the elections.
While there have been murmurs of the dirty ongoings and rot within the system for decades, no Indian news channel has dared to conduct a series of sting operations of the scale on sitting Members of Parliament to bring to the electorate the reality of those they elect into the LokSabha. REPUBLIC BHARAT’s deep investigation pulled out a series of clinchers through multiple sting operations and stitched the overall story of how, in the biggest betrayal of the people of India, some Indian Parliamentarians are up on sale in return for favours.
The 3 stung Members of Parliament in the Republic Bharat Sting are Ram Kumar Sharma who is the sitting RLSP MP from Sitamarhi constituency, Santokh Singh Chaudhary a Congress MP from Jalandhar and Harinarayan Rajbhar, a BJP MP from Ghosi, U.P.
Coming just 23 days ahead of the first phase of polling during which 91 crucial Lok Sabha constituencies across 20 states in the country go to vote, REPUBLIC BHARAT’s investigation, OPERATION BIKAU SANSAD, brought to the electorate 3 Members of Parliament from 3 different parties (RLSP, Congress, BJP) in 3 different states (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab) with one common takeaway: admissions on hidden camera about a hefty price list for favours and votes in election season.
In the 3-part investigative series captured on hidden camera, Members of Parliament openly discussed cash, contracts, ‘hundi’, hawala, trading offers and price tags that run into crores in exchange for favours both inside and outside Parliament.
Moments after the part-by-part investigation was broadcast on-air, Republic Bharat’s team was ready on-ground to confront those who were stung as part of OPERATION BIKAU SANSAD. While some hurled abuses, others tried to wriggle out with denials, but irrespective of their defences, their role and disclosures were already captured as eternal proof on camera.
In terms of impact, the RLSP Chief and the BJP had summoned their respective stung MPs and sought explanation. Meanwhile, the Congress came on-record to demand an investigation based on the Republic Bharat tapes.
While Republic Bharat’s investigative report disrupted and set the news agenda on Tuesday, the channel has pledged to take the tapes to the Election Commission to ensure that the sanctity of Indian democracy continues to be of paramount importance and that the faith of the Indian electorate is restored.
R Bharat has penetrated deep into the interiors of India through aggressive distribution strategy.Republic Bharat is available across all platforms and have a presence on Cable and DTH networks. In approximation, the channel is available on 4000 networks and reaching over 7000 towns. It has invested in boot up screens, EPGS assets on Airtel, Tata Sky, Dish TV, Videocon and also on other cable networks such as Den, Citi Cable and Hathway.
