New Delhi: A 30-second clip of a woman reporter asking question at a press conference in Lucknow which was being addressed by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath, who later chose to leave the stage without responding, has gone viral on social media, raising questions, once again, about press freedom in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state. She later reportedly alleged that she was heckled by BJP workers.In the clip, a female reporter named Divya Srivastava, who is said to have been employed at a news channel, can be seen as saying, “Mr Chief Minister, this is a press conference and you are not even responding to a question. Why did you call for a press conference? Only so that we get to hear what you are saying?” Srivastava can be seen as holding a mobile phone trying to record this face-off herself as chief minister Adityanath and other BJP leaders begin leaving the stage after addressing a ‘press conference’ on the Sewa Sankalp Abhiyan on September 12, 2026. As reported by The Wire earlier, a month-long itinerary titled Sewa Sankalp Abhiyan comprising various events has been chalked out by BJP in states such as Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Haryana and Assam between September 17 to October 17 marking 25 years of prime minister Narendra Modi’s public life ever since he took oath as the chief minister of Gujarat.A Lucknow-based reporter told The Wire, “Usually such press conferences at the party’s office are meant for passing on the government memo with reporters hardly asking questions.” The trend is, however, in contrast to the way press conferences are organised at the party’s headquarters in Delhi where its respective spokespersons do respond to questions from reporters on a regular basis.At UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s press conference pic.twitter.com/qEmYvZ6EJY— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) September 12, 2026In an interview with senior journalist Abhishek Upadhyay, while speaking on his YouTube channel Top Secret, reporter Divya Srivastava said, “When I tried asking a question, the chief minister made a bye-bye gesture and left. Thereafter I was surrounded by BJP workers and began asking questions from me alleging that I’m misbehaving. There is a difference between asking questions and misbehaving with someone, I didn’t use any foul language, I just requested the chief minister to respond to my query.”“One BJP member who also happens to be a spokesperson for the party insisted on knowing my name and the channel I worked for. He kept on asking about this 10-12 times during which he forced me to switch off my mobile camera and upon my refusal misbehaved with me,” Srivastava told Upadhyay in the interview.Meanwhile, in another video doing the rounds on social media, Srivastava can be seen heard dismissing allegations of being sent by an opposition party in the state. She is heard saying, “How many times do I need to tell you all that no opposition leader had sent me there [at the press conference]. Are the BJP supporters blind? I’ve been saying this since yesterday that I didn’t have any propaganda in mind, only wanted to ask questions.”The Wire tried contacting UP BJP media in-charge, Manish Dixit, but there was no response at the time of writing this story. Reporter Divya Srivastava also could not be contacted regarding her version for this story. This article will be updated upon receiving a response from either.