There has been a fresh controversy between Doordarshan and AIR i.e. All India Radio and Manik Sarkar, the Chief Minister of Tripura. Well, he has alleged that they blacked out his Independence Day speech and asked him to “Reshape” the same. This has made Sarkar infuriated and he said that it’s an intolerant, autocratic and undemocratic step. Well, his speech was supposed to be aired in Tripura on Tuesday but it didn’t happen.
The recording of the speech was done on the 12th of August, but on 13th of August, his office received a letter from them asking for some changes.
The letter read,
“The message of the Chief Minister was closely examined by the competent authority. In view of the sanctity of the occasion, the broadcast code and responsibility of the public broadcaster it is not possible to telecast it in the present format. However, Doordarshan/Prasar Bharati will be happy if the chief minister agrees to reshape the content making it suitable to the solemnity of the occasion and sentiment of the people.”
Even Rajdeep Sardesai tweeted about the same;
Attaching A copy of the letter asking Tripura CM to 'reshape' his I day speech. Hope that settles it. pic.twitter.com/xPaHeyDjpC
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) August 16, 2017
His tweet read, “Attaching A copy of the letter asking Tripura CM to ‘reshape’ his I day speech. Hope that settles it.”
Just because the speech didn’t contain everything positive, it was blacked out? Manik Sarkar strongly feels that this blacking-out is a result of criticizing the policies of Central Government and he also says that this is no less than “Emergency”. Here’s what one excerpt of his speech read,
“Unity in diversity is India’s traditional heritage. Great values of secularism have helped in keeping Indians together as a nation. Today, the spirit is under attack. Conspiracies and attempts are underway to create an undesirable complexity and divisions in our society; to invade our national consciousness in the name of religion, caste and community, by inciting passions to convert India into a particular religious country and in the name of protecting the cow.”
Well, everyone has a right to speech and it can’t be stopped, right? However, the Chief Minister strongly said that not even a single word would be changed. An official statement was released by him, which read, “The chief minister clearly stated that he would not change a single word and described it as unprecedented, undemocratic, autocratic and intolerant step.”
This decision of blacking out the speech has received a lot of backlash. CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has slammed BJP in a series of tweets. He even labelled this move as “Illegal”; have a look…
Doordarshan Refuses to Broadcast Tripura CM Manik Sarkar's Speech. Is this the Cooperative Federalism that PM Modi Talks About? Shame! pic.twitter.com/euuhRd18zc
— CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) August 15, 2017
Doordarshan is not private property!
Doordarshan is not the private property of the BJP or the RSS. Its refusal to broadcast Tripura CM's speech is undemocratic and illegal. https://t.co/mGnbn4gMOP
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) August 15, 2017
And one more;
PM can pay homilies to cooperative federalism while instructing his cronies to black out voices of the Opposition, including an elected CM.
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) August 15, 2017
He related it to Emergency!
If this isn't authoritarianism & undeclared Emergency, what is? This will be fought back by the CPM, people of Tripura and all our citizens.
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) August 15, 2017
Sarkar also said that on Independence day, every citizen has a right of reviewing and assessing the achievements and failures. He said, “It may appear that the policy of central government is being criticised, so what is wrong there”
What Modi government said?
There are reports of a senior government official saying,
“No rule was violated and the call was taken by the broadcasters, at their own level. DD or AIR was not nudged to act in a certain way. If that had been the case, we would have had problems with other chief ministers as well.”
What DD said?
The head of Doordarshan Kendra Agartala UK Sahoo said that “Wide” coverage was given to the speech of CM. An official letter was released which read, “On August 15, 2017, Doordarshan also gave wide coverage to the Chief Minister’s Independence day programme and telecast report running to 29 minutes and 45 seconds. Out of which the Hon’ble Chief Minister’s speech coverage was for 12 minutes. This was telecast at 19:00 hours.”
Sahoo has said that these reports are “Incorrect” and the speech was not blacked out at all.
What do you feel about this? Whom do you support?
