BJP writes to governor, accuses state govt of trying to gag media

Former chief minister and the Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday alleged that the state government was creating an emergency-like situation in Maharashtra

Former chief minister and the Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday alleged that the state government was creating an emergency-like situation in Maharashtra through its attempts to gag and intimidate the media.

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A BJP delegation led by Fadnavis met governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to demand accountability for the state’s action against mediapersons including city police’s 12-hour-long questioning of Republic TV’s editor Arnab Goswami on Monday. Fadnavis, along with the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Pravin Darekar, submitted a letter to the governor complaining that the government was trying to impose emergency-like conditions by creating fear among journalists and editors.

“Arnab Goswami was questioned for 12-and-a-half hours at a police station over a televised debate. The same police have allowed seasoned criminals to roam around free. Any kind of criticism on social media against the government is also leading to police action these days. This amounts to an attempt to gag the free media, and thus creates dangers for functioning democracy,” said Fadnavis.

The police recorded Goswami’s statement on Monday in connection with a police complaint filed against him by state power minister Nitin Raut for making controversial remarks in the Palghar lynching incident and against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. The charges against Goswami include provocation to cause riot, creating enmity between two communities, malicious intent to outrage religious feelings and defamation.

Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant, however, said, “Fadnavis’ complaint and standing by Goswami only show that BJP protects a section of media that tries to communalise and spread hatred in the society. During the BJP regime, several journalists and editors were hounded for doing their job, hence the party is in no position to talk about freedom of media.’’

The letter by BJP leaders said in the recent past, action had been taken against several media persons including the arrest of Marathi news channel ABP Majha’s reporter Rahul Kulkarni over the crowding of migrant labourers at Bandra. It also cited the threat by state home minister to file a police complaint against a Times Now senior editor.

Kulkarni was arrested for writing a news report that railway authorities were mulling to release outstation trains to allow migrant labourers to go home, which the police linked to the overcrowding at Bandra.

The letter also pointed out the state government’s stance against door-to-door delivery of newspapers despite a clean chit from the country’s top most health authorities and cited it as a move against independent print media.

The leaders asked the governor to take a serious note of these instances and demand a response from the state government.

Fadnavis was accompanied by former ministers Vinod Tawde, Ashish Shelar and city chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha.