Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan justifies SFI attack, police 'search' on Asianet News amid Opposition uproar
Even though the Opposition questioned the government's motives and staged a walkout of the assembly, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan continued to justify the targetting of Asianet News.
FollowThe Opposition in Kerala on Monday lashed out at the Pinarayi Vijayan government over the "planned moves" that are being made against Asianet News. The state assembly witnessed uproar over the Kerala Police "search" inside the Asianet News Kozhikode office. However, even though the Opposition questioned the government's motives and staged a walkout of the assembly, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan continued to justify the targetting of Asianet News.
Responding to the questions raised by Congress MLA PC Vishnunath about last Friday's SFI protest against the news against the drug mafia, the chief minister said: "The issue of freedom of the press is not involved in this issue. Taking legal action against a person who commits a criminal offence does not depend on the occupation of the person concerned. The law does not allow it."
"Making fake video and broadcasting it is not part of media practice. It is not brave journalism to involve a minor girl without her knowledge and claim the protection of the media. The vast majority of people want such corruption not to exist in the media," the chief minister said.
CM Pinarayi Vijayan also refused to compare the action against Asianet News with the BBC raid. He said, "There is no comparison. The action against the BBC was for bringing to light a ruler's role in communal riots. Fake video production here? It is not an outcry against any government or ruler. Therefore, there is no need for anyone in authority to feel any objection. Therefore, there is no point in talking about retaliation or hostile action here. That fake news does not cause any kind of outrage."
"A person comes with a complaint regarding an incident. It is the freedom of the individual. What should the police do if a complaint comes? Should it be torn up and thrown in the basket, saying it's media related? Is that the rule of law? If the opposition was in the government, would that be done?"Â
"There have been reprisals for reporting news against the government. It's not the case here. None of these measures against The Wire and NDTV before the Adani Group took over are predicated on non-news matters. It was for giving news against the government. None of these protesters was seen that day. The constitution does not distinguish between media workers and non-media workers," he added.
Seemingly justifying the SFI attack on the Asianet News Kochi office, the chief minister said, "Freedom of the press is not the freedom to tell lies, but the freedom of the reader to know the truth. It will be protected by the government. It is natural to protest against the draining of morality from the freedom of the press."
Giving a clean chit to the CPI(M)-backed SFI cadre, who barged into the Asianet News office and intimidated journalists, he sought to silence the Congress MLAs and boasted: "It is not our practice to launch attacks on media outlets that write opposing views. It is the way of Congress and the BJP. Censorship during the Emergency and the arrest of people like Kuldeep Nayyar cannot be forgotten. We cannot forget that on the day emergency was declared; the media was cut off to prevent the news from getting out. Seven foreign reporters were expelled from the country. Two hundred fifty journalists were jailed. Fifty-four people were denied accreditation. This is the Congress method. Even anti-terror methods were used against journalists. That's your way, Congress."
"You both have the way of raiding press offices, imprisoning journalists, making press-killing laws, taking over newspapers with their crony capitalist corporations, cutting newspaper newsprint quotas, and denying advertising. It is your method to consolidate news agencies and bring them under the control of the Sangh Parivar and lock down even the press houses. Don't try to make it our own. We have always fought for the freedom of the press. No protest was seen here after the patriotic reporter was dropped from the opposition press conference. There is some double standard somewhere."
Further justifying the hurriedly-up police action on a complaint filed by CPI(M)-backed MLA, Vijayan said: "Here the media is constantly spreading false news against the government. We are not intimidated by any of this. We also strongly believe that no matter how much false news is spread or discussions are organized, people will not think wrongly about us. Â This is the stage where the entire country is involved in the fight against drugs. The media, mass movements and the entire people are involved in it. All of us are happy to join the fight and air a news series against the spread of drugs. In one such series, it has been alleged that fake footage has been inserted, a minor has been misrepresented, and a conspiracy has been hatched. The complaint is that the daughter of the employee of her own office was brought in school uniform in front of the camera. If something like that happens, what should the police do? Do you want to judge that it is freedom of the press and not move? Be inactive for fear of the media's displeasure?"
Ironically, neither the minor nor the family of the minor has claimed that the Asianet News report is fake.
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