Undeclared emergency prevailing in country: Kerala CM

Criticising the central government over the ban on two Kerala-based channels, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that an undeclared emergency is prevailing in the country.

Earlier today, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that two Kerala-based channels that were banned for 48 hours have been restored.

Talking about the ban, Vijayan said, "Imposing ban on two Malayalam channels in connection with Delhi violence reporting is a dangerous trend. It is an indication towards the forthcoming dangers in the future. An undeclared emergency is prevailing in the country. The tactics of the Centre was to bring everyone under its control by instilling fear. Everyone should keep a democratic vigil."

He added, "The Centre has made an infringement into the freedom of the press, crossing all limits. There is a threat that if anybody criticises RSS and Sangh Parivar, they will be taught a lesson. It was seen that such an approach had repeatedly been applied on the Parliament constitutional bodies and judiciary in recent times."

Vijayan said that this was not the first time when attempts were made to bring media under control. "The tendency to attack media is happening frequently," he said.

"People have the right to know what is happening in the country and the media has the right and responsibility to report it. Media should be allowed to work freely and equitably," Vijayan said.

Asserting the importance of press freedom, Prakash Javadekar said, "Two Kerala channels were banned for 48 hours, we immediately found out what actually happened and immediately restored the channels. Our basic thought process is that press freedom is absolutely essential for a democratic setup".

The Minister assured that further detailed investigation will be carried out and accordingly necessary steps will be taken.

"And that is the commitment of the Modi government as we fought an Emergency in which press freedom was muzzled. We went to jail to stop the muzzling of the press and we secured press freedom. So, even Prime Minister expressed concern on this issue. I will go into details and take essential steps if there has been any wrongdoing. Also, everybody accepts it has to be responsible for freedom," the Minister added.

Asianet News and MediaOne were banned for 48 hours on Friday by the Information and Broadcasting (I & B) ministry for alleged communally insensitive coverage of Delhi violence.Javedakar stated that Asianet News was on air on Friday night whereas MediaOne was restored on Saturday morning.