Congress today alleged that asking NDTV India to go off-air for a day is a message to the entire media to "either play ball or get shot" and accused the I&B Minister of indulging in chicanery by hiding behind recommendations of a committee.
"This is unfortunately the Indian media getting encountered," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, alleging that there are people in the ruling dispensation "who have been past masters at alleged fake encounters".
He cautioned the media outlets that they may face a similar fate if they do not protest now.
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"What you are seeing happening to NDTV is not only a message to NDTV. It is a wider message to the entire media that either get co-opted or get shot....To either play ball or get shot.
"For the Information & Broadcasting Minister to hide behind the recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee is nothing short of chicanery," Tewari said.
He said Ministers are supposed to see things in a "wider perspective" and in the perspective of the state guarding media people and preserving the freedom of speech and expression.
"So therefore, what has happened to NDTV today if it is not resisted by the Indian media will unfortunately happen to all of you time and again. Please take this as a caution," he told the media.
Tewari said governments in the past have had difficulties with media coverage and so did UPA during 26/11 terror attacks.
"But that does not mean you should shoot the messenger," he said.
Attacking the BJP leadership, the Congress leader said, "You are seeing the media version of fake encounters play themselves out. You have people in the ruling dispensation who have been past masters at alleged fake encounters. And this is unfortunately the Indian media getting encountered."
He said at the time when he was the I&B Minister in UPA, there had been recommendations by the Inter-Ministerial Committee to take a particular English channel off air for their coverage of the Muzaffarnagar riots. "But, I did not agree," he said.
Tewari also said that in the run up to 2014 election, Congress had repeatedly warned and cautioned both the media and the wider liberal world that "God forbid if there is a BJP government at the Centre, the spectre of fascism will hang very low and liberal and creative spaces in this country would be squeezed".
Recalling his tenure as I&B Minister, Tewari said there
are violations in the programmes and advertising code both by news and current affairs channels and non-news and current affairs, entertainment channels.
He said invariably most of the channels who were penalised were entertainment channels and hardly any action was taken against news channels per se, primarily because the manner in which one would like to interpret news coverage can be extremely subjective.
"Therefore, extra caution and extra circumspection was exercised even when we had recommendations from inter-ministerial committees with regard to news channels," he said.
He pointed out the case of Muzaffarnagar riots and also that one of the news channels had allegedly even broadcast live the interview of the terrorists at Nariman House.
"If UPA government wanted, it could have cancelled the licence of that channel. But, my enlightened predecessors took the correct view, that if you start drawing lines on news coverage, when I draw a line to the left, somebody can draw a line to the extreme right.
"Therefore, this is not a message to NDTV, this is a message to the larger Indian media space to either play ball or get shot," he said.
Asked about charges levelled by BJP that Congress was playing politics on the OROP issue in the wake of a suicide by an ex-soldier, the Congress leader said "unfortunately, one person committed suicide on one rank one pension and when some people tried to expressed grief with the family, they were stopped and misbehaved with".
"So who is doing politics. Politics is being done by BJP or those sitting at high positions who in this country have given shape to an undeclared emergency. Never has it happened that public representatives are stopped from meeting a family," he said.
Tewari said "if public representatives and elected representatives will not go, then who will go".
Tomorrow they will also say that the media should not go, he said.
"In last 28 months, an atmosphere has been created that if you ask questions to BJP of this government, you are dubbed as anti-nationals. This government is trying to end democracy in this country. This is a major issue of concern on which all should unitedly stand against it," the Congress spokesperson alleged.
