oppn parties Raid On Asianet: Left Or Right, They Are The Same

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
Raid On Asianet: Left Or Right, They Are The Same

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-03-10 06:46:35

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

Governments, whether of the Right, the Left or the Centre, have a pet peeve - the media. This stems from the fact that governments cannot tolerate criticism and instead of viewing the media as the fourth pillar of democracy, view it as an adversary. Close on the heels of the Centre's action against the BBC for producing the documentary on the Gujarat riots that criticized the then Gujarat government headed by Narendra Modi, the Kerala police raided the offices of Asianet, a regional news channel in Kerala that is often critical of the Left front government in the state. While the Left had criticized the Modi government action against BBC, it is clear it was looking for an opportunity to move against Asianet.

The 'opportunity' was provided by a CPM-supported independent legislator in the state assembly who lodged a complaint alleging that the news channel was publishing misleading information in a case of child abuse. Before the police action, activists of SFI, the student's wing of the CPM, had stormed into the channels offices and indulged in acts of vandalism. Clearly, the twin acts were not to take action against the channel for publishing misleading reports - they were to intimidate the media and let Asianet know that criticism of the government will not be tolerated and more such actions, on real or perceived 'grievances', will follow if it did not bend.

If the channel had transgressed, the law provides for many sections under which it can be prosecuted and penalized. But vandalism and police raids are not legal action, they are intimidation. With executive overreach being the norm in these times, the courts and the media have become the only forums that the citizens can turn to in times of distress. The Left government in Kerala had also sought to amend the Kerala Police Act in 2020 to curtail freedom of speech and browbeat the media. The order was withdrawn after protests. While the Leftist parties take pains to show that they are pro-people and respect democratic institutions, when it comes to the crunch, in some matters they are no different than the BJP, the party they love to hate. 

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