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Journalism of Courage
Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday assured the media that its freedom will be intact under the Narendra Modi-led government. Adding that external curbs will not work on the media, he recalled days of the Emergency in 1975 when media was gagged by the state.
Dissent has a place in a democracy and “we will always welcome constructive criticism”, added the Minister of State (independent charge) for Information & Broadcasting taking charge of the ministry.
“Modi ji ke netritva mein aayi sarkar media ki swadheenta ko akshun rakhegi (The Modi-led government will keep media freedom intact),” Javadekar said, and recalled how “we fought” curbs imposed on media in 1975 and how “we were in jail for 16 months”.
“We believe freedom of press is essence of democracy…it gives people choice in a rainbow of differing opinions. There is no external regulation that works in the media. In 1975, media freedom was trampled upon but we fought it,” the minister said.
Asked about recent cases where several youngsters had been arrested for allegedly posting anti-Modi messages on social media, Javadekar said those cases had been registered under the IT Act by the respective state governments and the Centre had no role.
Javadekar said Modi has said though BJP has the numbers to run the government, it needs the cooperation and support of all to run the country. “Rajnetaon aur media ki zimmevari banti hai ki loktantra ko safal banayein (success of a democracy lies on the shoulders of political leaders and the media).”
Asked whether state-run broadcaster Doordarshan will be allowed to edit important interviews (in reference to the controversy over DD for removing a chink of Narendra Modi’s interview in the run-up to the elections), Javadekar’s response was: “Bilkul nahin (Not at all).”
He further said “change in work culture is what we promised” and it will be delivered. He added priorities would be worked out after consultation with all stakeholders. On his predecessor Manish Tewari’s views that there was no need for an I&B ministry, Javadekar said, “It doesn’t take much time to end an institution, but it takes a lot of time to build it. We’ll take stock of everything and will not waste whatever is good.”
On whether any important decisions taken by his predecessor would be reversed, he said, “Jo achha hai woh chalega, jo nahin hai woh nahin chalega.(What’s right will continue, what’s not won’t).”
