The Government on Wednesday said in the Rajya Sabha that it would take action against a TV channel in Uttar Pradesh and maintained that the media cannot be so free and independent that it spreads communal disharmony. As members of the Opposition associated with the issue, Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said, “They cannot spread communal disharmony and the Government should have a watch on this.”
Responding to the members’ concern, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “We cannot allow anyone to disturb peace and communal harmony.”
“Media’s independence is one thing but it cannot be so free that it spreads communal disharmony in country. We have taken note of it and will take action,” Naqvi said.
An FIR against the CMD and editor-in-chief of Sudarshan news channel, Suresh Chavhanke, was registered on Monday on charges of allegedly instigating enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion in Sambhal area of UP.
Earlier, SP leader Javed Ali Khan said “There is one channel in India which for last 12 days is targeting peace, unity and communal harmony of Sambhal. They are showing regular programmes with headlines like ‘Sambhal, a place of terror’, ‘Sambhal, a place of Jehadis’, and ‘There is rule of Ravan in Sambhal’.