Appealing to the judiciary to interfere in incidents wherein the Modi government targeted people criticising the dispensation, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said that state-run Doordarshan and Akashwani have turned into Modi’s mouthpieces.
“It is very unfortunate that people have lost their democratic rights to criticise government policies. An FIR against eminent actor Prakash Raj and the arrest of a Dalit youth in Shamli proves that the BJP was trying to crush any dissent through undemocratic means. It is only the judiciary which can intervene and save peoples’ rights,” she said.
In a statement released on Friday, Mayawati said that government media Doordarshan and Akashwani have become Modi’s voice while the BJP and company were only conspiring against those people opposed to their anti-people policies.
She charged that independent writers, authors and journalists were being targeted by the government. “By indirect control on private media channels, efforts were being made to end their independence,” the former UP CM said.
Terming the BJP regime in UP as a ‘failed government’, she said that even Governor has expressed his dissatisfaction on the law and order situation and said that it needed immediate improvement.
“This BJP government has failed to deliver. It is now trying to incite communal animoisty between two communities and encouraging caste clashes,” she alleged while accusing both the Centre and state governments of failing to deliver any welfare scheme as promised during the poll campaign.