The Congress on Sunday attacked the Centre over the mass resignations of members from Censor Board and said that Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Arun Jaitley cannot “hide inefficiency, corruption and maladministration within his Ministry through a good turn of phrase”.
AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi also rejected Jaitley’s statement in which he described the members who resigned as “rebels without a cause” and termed leela Samson, who quit as the chief of the board, a “non-functional chairperson”. Singhvi said that the Minister’s “good turn of phrase appears misapplied” in this case.
“If 10 people, all of them very respected in their fields, headed by a chairperson who is widely respected... Say there is grave maladministration, there is grave corruption, inefficiency... I think it behoves the government and the minister to look into it, to show care and concern rather than to indulge in a quick turn of phrase or in rejection or criticism,” he said.
The remarks came a day after nine Censor Board members resigned from the body in protest against what they claimed was the "cavalier and dismissive manner" in which it is treated by the government.
Before that Samson, who headed the statutory body under the I&B Ministry, had resigned amidst the row over the clearance for screening to controversial film Messenger of God, featuring Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.