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Chandigarh, November 5: Taking up the cudgels against the Modi government’s dictatorial one-day ban on NDTV, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturdayannounced a day-long protest on November 9 to coincide with the TV channel’s blackout if the Prime Minister fails to withdraw the ban order.
Addressing the media here, Captain Amarinder said if the authoritarian orders were not withdrawn, his party would stage a dharna on this ‘dark day for India’s democracy’ outside the Punjab Governor’s residence in Chandigarh. He expressed the hope that better sense would prevail on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he would ensure that the obnoxious orders are taken back by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Alleging a similar effort in Punjab by the Akali regime to gag the media, Captain Amarinder said his government, once in power, will immediately unshackle the media from the control of the Badals and their cronies, and allow all media organisations equal opportunity to flourish and grow in a professional environment.
Captain Amarinder appealed to the media across the country to show solidarity with NDTV, and come out on the streets against the repressive orders of the central government.
Condemning the development as an attempt to rip apart the country’s democratic fiber by stifling the free voice of the independent media, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president said the nation could not remain a mute spectator to this brazen murder of democracy and assault on free speech by the Modi government.
Reacting to the BJP stand that the ban order had been necessitated in the interest of national security, Captain Amarinder questioned the new definition sought to be given to national security by the Modi government. “Are you questioning the media’s nationalism and patriotism,” he demanded to know from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When the Modi government had itself invited an ISI team to the Pathankot Air Force Station post the attack how could it possibly consider an Indian TV channel’s coverage to be anti-national, he asked.
Captain Amarinder asserted that every person, especially those in position of authority, was accountable in a democracy and the media had the right to question authority, which is what NDTV had done in the case of the Pathankot attack.
The authoritarian crackdown on the independence of the media was symptomatic of the Modi government’s dictatorial attitude and its total disregard for the Constitutional rights of the people of India, said Captain Amarinder, accusing the NDA government of unleashing a huge conspiracy to destroy the nation’s democratic structures.
Describing the ban orders as yet another attempt by the Modi government to rip apart the democratic fiber of the country, the PPPC president charged the prime minister with promoting an environment that is antagonistic to free speech and expression in the country.
The Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party, as well as its alliance partners, including the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, have unleashed a campaign to control the media at the national and regional levels, Captain Amarinder said, pointing to the cable mafia in Punjab under the Badal regime as a stark example of the nefarious anti-media designs of the ruling combine.
In fact, said Captain Amarinder, the Modi government’s anarchical and tyrannical policies were evident not just in its handling of the media but in other facets of its functioning too. The detention of AICC Vice President Rahul Gandhi over the ex-serviceman’s suicide issue was also part of the same grand design of the Modi government to annihilate the nation’s democratic and equitable systems, he added.
