A totalitarian regime imposes press censorship. It is neither surprising nor unexpected that Gandhi and his vassals have decided to impose it in the only Indian state which does not have Hindu majority. Kashmir has been experiencing various forms of discontent as the majority Muslim population has been seeking to assert their independence. This has evoked a series of repressive measures which have ‘a familiar ring to anyone who has been observing the Punjab situation. Censorship is the latest amongst the weapons of federal authorities who behave even worse than the erstwhile colonial masters.
The censorship is sought to be explained away on the grounds of meeting a so called “threat to a public order.” Similar excuses were cited by British colonial rulers in India, the neocolonial rulers who replaced them, and recently by the communist Chinese authorities to crush the democratic aspirations of their own people.
Observers of India expect adhocness and censorship from the government owned and controlled radio and TV media. The speech by Andhra Pradesh chief minister N.T. Rama Rao on the occasion of Indian independence was blacked out by the state owned media. A rather obvious example of censorship.
‘What else can we expect from the son of a mother, who as the prime minister imprisoned nearly 7,000 people including journalists for producing or distributing so called clandestine literature during the state of internal emergency rule imposed in 1975. All fundamental human rights were suspended during the period. Rajiv has in fact called journalists “liars” and he had introduced the defamation bill to curb freedom of the press. A national outrage forced him to withdraw it.
At present the press in India is sought to be kept toeing the official line by means of controlling the supply of government distributed newsprint, as well as putting pressures on various owners many of whom have business interests which are dependent on the authorities for their licenses and permits. Editor Vinod Mehta resigned from Indian Post when his owners felt the pressure and editor B.M Sinha of the Evening News went on “special leave” after he wrote an editorial supporting the mass opposition resignations recently. The editorial was not even published!
There are exceptions but even there it has been observed that reporting follows a largely communal line of the Hindu majority. The governments repressive measures to curb the freedom movements of the minorities are generally supported. Opposition leader L.K. Advani had once tartly commented that the press, when asked to bend, crawled.
In Punjab reporting largely consists of rehashes of official handouts which present a lopsided and often a downright untrue view of the situation. The state has not allowed any independent foreign journalists entry since 1984. The editor of Punjabi language daily Ajit has been harassed.
A journalists trade union reported that in 1988 more than 50 journalists were physically attacked, at times with fatal results, mostly by Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress! party workers.
The sham of democracy in India is being further exposed. Censorship invariably recoils on those who impose it. There is no way in which any ruler can curb the natural aspirations of the people, he can either bow to the will of the people or it bursts the bubble of falsehood, deceit and corruption which a repressive regime surrounds itself with.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 1, 1989
