The CPI (M) Polit Bureau, party’s highest decision making body, has expressed outrage at the refusal by Doordarshan and All India Radio to broadcast Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar’s Independence Day speech.
The Polit Bureau said that action must initiated against those responsible for prohibiting the broadcast.
In a statement today, the Polit Bureau said Sarkar’s speech was recorded by both DD and AIR but he was later told that the speech could not be carried by them it its original form. Sarkar was asked by them to “reshape” his speech.
“This is a gross infringement on the right of a chief minister to address the people of his state on the occasion of Independence Day,” the Polit Bureau said.
Calling it an “act of censorship” and “trampling upon the autonomy of Prasar Bharati, Doordarshan and AIR”, CPI (M) said the step was reminiscent of the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi.
“This act is reminiscent of the Emergency days and goes beyond as it seeks to gag the elected chief minister of a state”, the statement said.
The Polit Bureau said the Narendra Modi government must stop treating the Prasar Bharati like a department under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.