Urge media to not give space to narratives threatening integrity of India: I&B Minister

The BJP has accused Rahul of “vilifying” India abroad by saying democracy was under threat in the country.

Thakur added: “I want to emphasise here that the democratic nature of our great nation will always remain a fact, no matter how many substandard and illogical opinions are delivered freely from within or abroad.’’

The I&B Minister went on to talk about “a growing danger of digital colonialism”. “We must remain cautious not to accept anything and everything in the name of innovation and modernity. Foreign publications, companies and organisations with inherent anti-India bias peddling distorted facts must be identified and called out,” he said, asking the Indian media “which understands the ground reality” to play its role in this.

His remarks follow the documentary on the role of the Gujarat government led by Narendra Modi during the 2002 riots by the BBC.

Democracy is “an integral and indestructible part of our civilisational history”, Thakur said. “The sabhas and samitis that existed in other parts of Bharat Varsha also existed in what is now known as Kerala. Democracy existed then, it exists now, and it shall exist in the future too.”

He contrasted this with the Congress-led Central government dismissing the Left regime of Kerala in 1959. “The Congress got away with impunity. It was the first gross misuse of the Constitution,” the minister said, adding that the Congress government had “abused” Article 356 to sack 93 state governments subsequently, thus making a mockery of democracy and political diversity.

Going on to talk about the “significance” of the print medium, he said among the many threads that unite the country is the belief that India is their motherland. “The newspaper Kesava Menon founded (Mathrubhumi) is a tribute to this unshakeable belief. Unfortunately, and I mean it literally, there are some who do not believe so. For them, India is not their motherland. They have a fatherland which is a foreign country from where they derive their foreign ideology.”

With the CPM students’ union wing SFI recently attacking the offices of Asianet, Thakur said such assaults weaken democracy and its institutions. He also talked about attacks on RSS workers in Kerala.

In his speech, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who inaugurated the valedictory ceremony, said the media was endangering itself by not speaking up when the basic character of the country was under attack.

“There is overall criticism in the country that the media remains silent when the secular and federal character of the country is under attack. If the media neglect such criticism, we should realise that it would endanger the very existence of the media… It is the media which has to basically fight for its existence, but often the media disregards that onus,’’ he said.

Pinarayi said the fact that India ranked 150 in the World Press Freedom Index was a shame. “When freedom of the press is being threatened, when unity in diversity of the country is being questioned, when the legitimate rights of states are denied, one who believes in secularism, democracy and federalism cannot remain silent. It is the duty of the media to uphold these values. Mathrubhumi, which has been a part of the freedom struggle, should bear in mind that this responsibility is bestowed on it,” the CM said.

In the context of federalism, Pinarayi also spoke about the pluralism of the country and said any move to foist one language went against it. “If only one language is imposed across the country, how will Malayalam and the language-based media survive?” the CM said.

The programme was also attended by state leaders such as V D Satheesan of the Congress, Law Minister P Rajeeve and Revenue Minister P Rajan.

(With PTI inputs)