By TCN News,
New Delhi: The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has demanded the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) to forthwith withdraw the show-cause notice issued to the three television channels over coverage of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon’s hanging.
Claiming that an attempt is being made to muzzle the media, which is the fourth pillar of democracy, and thereby encroach upon the freedom of free speech as guaranteed in the Constitution of India, the SDPI national president A Sayeed expressed deep anguish at the show-cause notices and said: “It is a blatant attempt to suppress freedom of expression which should be opposed tooth and nail by one and all. The notice has charged that the three news channels showed disrespect to the judiciary and the President by airing certain content on the day convict Yakub Memon was hanged. It is an effort to intimidate and terrorise the media.”
Sayeed said the BJP government is behaving in the same manner as the Emergency imposed by late Indira Gandhi in 1975. “During the Emergency, no one could speak against the government. Today BJP government is doing the same thing of 1975. This is a dangerous trend about the high handedness of the government similar to what happened during the emergency period. This is just the beginning of curbing civil liberty. They are already telling you what to eat, this is the beginning as to what you should see and hear now.”
Meanwhile, office-bearers and workers of Delhi Pradesh unit of SDPI staged a demonstration against the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) at Shastri Bhavan voicing their concern over the notice issued to three TV channels. They also demanded forthwith withdrawal of these notices to maintain freedom of expression. After the demonstration the activists courted arrests and were taken away by the police, a release said.