Claiming he wasn’t being allowed to report the “truth”, a journalist announced his resignation from ABP News from the stage during an RLD mahapanchayat in Meerut on Saturday.

“I don’t want this job. I wanted to work because I wanted to speak the truth. And I wasn’t allowed to do it,” said Rakshit Singh, who covered banking and finance for the channel.

The RLD has been holding rallies across Uttar Pradesh in protest against the three new farm laws. RLD national vice-president Jayant Chaudhary addressed the Meerut rally.

Singh told The Sunday Express he had gone to cover the rally for the Hindi news channel when he decided to publicly resign. “For the last three months a lot has been happening. As a journalist, if stories even slightly critical of the government are not carried, one is bound to feel something,” he said.

Shortly after the public resignation, he tweeted three videos. “It has come to a point where journalists of many media organisations have to take off their IDs to report. I couldnt tolerate it, so I quit,” he said.

An ABP Network spokesperson said: “We at ABP Network believe in the highest degree of ethical journalism and have strict policies in place whereby our reporters have the mandate to ensure and maintain due impartiality, independence, fairness and strict adherence and compliance to the law of land, journalism ethics and editorial principles. Also, fact-based reporting has always been central to our editorial policy. We are shocked and saddened to see that one of our reporters has misused our brand and has made false remarks and statements to fulfill personal motives.”