BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday utilised the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day to invoke the “horrific” memories of Emergency in 1975 and lament Doordarshan’s “decline” in journalistic freedom.
Modi reminded the people of the Emergency imposed by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975 when curbs were placed on the media. “We have witnessed the horrors of Emergency when Freedom of Press and Freedom of Expression were suppressed. It is a blot on our democracy,” Modi said in a tweet joining issues with the controversy related to his “edited” interview aired on the national broadcaster. Modi also said that on days such as this he felt very sad to see the national TV channel struggling to maintain its professional freedom.
The Government, however, sought to distance itself from the “editing” controversy. Information & Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said the Government maintains an “arm’s length” with the Prasar Bharati, whose CEO J Sircar had pointed fingers at him for failing to grant operational autonomy to the public broadcaster. Prasar Bharati supervises the functioning of Doordarshan and the All India Radio.
Tewari said Prasar Bharati’s autonomy was guaranteed by an Act of the Parliament and it was he who had initiated steps to grant more autonomy to it by constituting the Sam Pitroda Committee. The Prasar Bharati, for its part, will decide on Monday whether to go in for a probe into the entire episode or not. “We will look at papers on Monday and take a call,” Sircar said when asked if the public broadcaster was planning to initiate an enquiry.
Doordarshan had on April 26 interviewed Modi at Gandhinagar and telecast it the next day. However, remarks made by Modi on Priyanka Gandhi and his claims of proximity with Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political aide Ahmed Patel were edited out by DD. As the media reported it, a major row erupted with the BJP alleging that the portions were edited at the behest of the Government and accused it of censorship. The BJP then went on to release its own recording, done simultaneously with Doordarshan, of the Modi interview.