Bengal cracks the whip again, seals Nepali TV channel office
DARJEELING UNREST ABN News Network ‘disobeyed a public servant’s order and promoted enmity between groups’, say police
The West Bengal government sealed the Siliguri-based office of a Nepali language satellite television channel on Saturday night, a move seen as crackdown on establishments allegedly promoting the public unrest for a separate Gorkhaland state.
Police alleged the ABN News Network, India’s first Nepali TV channel, disobeyed a public servant’s order and promoted enmity between groups.
The allegations follow the channel’s coverage of a pro-Gorkhaland rally in which participants carried khukris, the short and curvy Gorkha sword, sources said on Sunday.
People are not allowed to carry the traditional weapon in the restive Darjeeling hills that have been on the edge after chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced the government’s decision to make Bengali a mandatory subject in all schools in the state.
Banerjee later clarified Nepalispeaking students will not have to learn Bengali.
But the tension showed no signs of abating as the region remained shut for the 39th day this weekend because of an indefinite public strike.
The step against the TV channel is criticised as a breach of free speech.
“The channel is registered as satellite television channel with the Union ministry of information and broadcasting,” said Swapnanil Chatterjee, the CEO.
Darjeeling’s BJP parliamentarian SS Ahluwalia said he has informed the Union government about it.
“There has been no internet or cable TV in Darjeeling hills over the past month. Now, the ABN office has been sealed,” he said.
Government officials refused comments.
Bimal Gurung, chief of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) that is spearheading the statehood stir, said about the move: “The state government is trying to suppress the democratic movement through undemocratic and fascist means.”