Govt acts in haste, regrets

The lightning speed with which the Union government imposed a 48-hour ban on Malayalam news channels, Asianet News and Media One, for their coverage of Delhi riots and its revocation in hours betray a deeprooted malaise that has come to engulf the Narendra Modi government. The order of the ministry of I&B on March 6 had said Asianet News failed to do a balanced job in the coverage. It has pointed out an instance in which a reporter narrated stories that reflected on the inaction of the Delhi police as well was communal nature of the criminal gangs that went around attacking. The ministry has no case that the channel broadcast falsehood.

The charge on Media One was all the more ludicrous: “Channel’s reporting on Delhi violence seems to be biased as it is deliberately focusing on the vandalism of CAA supporters. It also questions RSS and alleges Delhi Police inaction. Channel seems to be critical towards Delhi Police and RSS.”

Union minister for information and broadcasting Prakash Javadekkar, who the very next morning announced the withdrawal of the ban, said he was not informed about the decision of his ministry to keep in abeyance the fundamental right to speech and expression granted to citizens under Article 19(1)(A). All the more alarming was his statement that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi was concerned about it. The minister has promised to look into the episode thoroughly, and he must.

In our scheme of things, decisions such as this with such wider ramifications on the democratic functioning of the country should have the political executive in the loop; freedom of speech and expression is not a small mercy some mandarins seated in the central secretariat bestow on hapless people. The government must also be worried if important decisions are taken behind the back of the elected representatives. The “mukhota” barb on then PM Atal Behari Vajpayee is not something the BJP would like Mr Modi, too, to face.