Information & Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Monday slammed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi saying it was his party which had imposed Emergency and dismissimed State Governments. Naidu said the Congress has no moral right to talk about issue of democratic principles as it was like “the Devil quoting the scriptures”.
“Every word Rahul said at the Congress Working Commitee (CWC) meet suits the Congress itself and reminds people of what it had done... Democracy was taken off the air for 19-and-a-half months and Emergency was imposed,” said Naidu. He further added that the Congress Vice President's statements are laughable and that the government was prepared for a detailed debate on all these issues with the opposition during the winter session of Parliament.
He labeled the Government's decision against Hindi news channel NDTV India as a “small action”, pointing out that the government would never do anything to suppress freedom of press. In fact, the action against the channel was initiated by the government following the guidelines and advisories issued by the UPA Government in December 2008.
Naidu further pointed out that nobody spoke about democracy and freedom of media during the UPA regime when 21 news channels were banned from time to time.”In fact, the channel named 'Janmat' was banned for 20 days when P.R. Dasmunsi was the Information and Broadcasting Minister,” he reminded.
To add to the above, some were banned for airing “midnight masala,” which for Naidu is the code for unauthorised content, often sexual and salacious in nature, on national television. The government often swoops down on such channels, which mostly belong to the general entertainment category.
In sharp contrast, NDA Government on the other hand is worried about “daylight portrayal of terror activities with running commentary on the whereabouts of ammo depot”. Surprisingly, those who are protesting the ban on NDTV are the same people who had put behind bars an artist for cartoons, said Naidu.