Doordarshan changed our script without knowledge: Congress

The Congress in Maharashtra on Monday accused Doordarshan (DD) of trying to silence the voice of opposition by making changes in the party's voter awareness script without its knowledge.

The public broadcaster is doing so under pressure from the BJP-led government, state Congress spokesman Sachin Sawant said in a statement here.

He said Doordarshan, where political parties are given time slots for election campaigning, can't stop people from criticising the government.

"Under pressure from the government, Doordarshan is trying to silence voice of opposition parties. Changes have been made in the voter awareness script of the Congress party without its knowledge," Sawant said in the statement.

This incident is infuriating and also takes away the constitutional right to oppose the government, he said.

Elaborating on the issue, Sawant said for one programme on Doordarshan, the Congress had given a script which said "in the last five years Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has done nothing apart from lying".

Those words were changed by the DD's scrutiny committee, he alleged and added by doing so the opposition's right to give its opinion was taken away.

Condemning the manner in which DD changed the document, Sawant said the Congress will not record its script till Doordarshan explains why those words (critical of Fadnavis) were removed.

He demanded that Doordarshan give in writing if it feels "only the chief minister speaks the truth".

"Until all this is done, the Congress will not record its script," the opposition party's spokesman said.

Railing against the public broadcaster, Sawant asked, "Who gave Doordarshan the right to stop people from criticising the government? Who is pressurising Doordarshan to not show anything against the chief minister?
"Is Doordarshan a platform for only government voice? They should give answer to all these questions."