NEW DELHE: The Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that the Center “immediately” hand over all electronic media installations in Punjab, Chandigarh, Jammu, Kashmir, Haryana and Delhi to the army and provide “foolproof security cover” to the media employees and their families. This would restore their confidence, the party said.
The installations should be under army cover until the law and order situation in these areas improved, party Vice President K.L. Sharma said while referring to the gruesome murder of M.L. Manchanda and the consequent strike by agitated employees at various kendras.
In a statement Sharma called upon the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ajit Panja to “immediately convene” a meeting of the union representatives to discuss the demands of the employees of the electronic media and take a comprehensive decision on all pending issues.
Sharma took objection to the Government’s recent decision to telecast Urdu news bulletins or the national hook up and said that it could not be justified. “Any language which deserves such status should have been Sanskti first,” he said,
According to Sharma the Center needs to evolve a national code on media program policy and spell detailed norms for all kendras, It was “unfortunate” that the Union Government was taking “ad hoc and abrupt decisions” cither by succumbing to threats or by overreacting in this bid to appease certain sections, he said.
Condemning the “double faced tactics” of the militants, Sharma said that while they sought more time for Punjabi programs on the electronic media, they refused to tolerate Hindi programs. “Let the; militants realize that by adopting, such dubious and coercive tactics they are proving to be the worst enemies of the Punjabi language,” he said.
Sharma urged upon the Information and Broadcasting Ministry not to yield before such antinational dictates.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 12, 1992
