The Hindu : Cultural leaders flay curbs on Assembly coverage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Cultural leaders flay curbs on Assembly coverage

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM June 17. A cross-section of cultural leaders have flayed the curbs imposed by the Speaker on coverage of Assembly proceedings by the electronic media and urged him to remove the restrictions to uphold the freedom of the Press.

Participants in a meeting organised by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) to mobilise public opinion against the curbs here today, they were unanimous in demanding withdrawal of the restrictions on the media.

Inaugurating the meeting, the poet, O.N.V. Kurup, exhorted everyone who believed in values of freedom and democracy to rally for restoring the rights enjoyed by the media in the Assembly.

The curbs were an infringement on the fundamental right to know and let the people know. The people who voted candidates to the Assembly had a right to know how the elected legislators performed in the House, he said.

Sugathakumari, writer and social activist, said the Speaker's move stemmed from his own insecurity over the conduct of the legislators in the Assembly. As in governance, legislative business of elected legislators too required transparency, she added.

The CPI(M) leader, P. Govinda Pillai, said the curbs in one stroke put to sword principles of freedom and civic liberties while the writer, Zachariah, felt that the curbs stemmed from insecurity among legislators themselves.

The former Speaker, M. Vijayakumar, said that while the Speaker was the supreme authority of the House, it did not entitle him to behave in an autocratic manner.

Ninan Koshi, social activist, said the Speaker had through such a move deprive the people of their right to know while the KPCC general secretary, Pandalam Sudhakaran, said the onus on upholding the prestige of the House was not only vested with the Speaker but also with the MLAs.

Among others who spoke were K. E. Mammen, B. R. P. Bhaskar, Hareendranath, K. V. Thikkurissi, Cheriyan Philip and the KUWJ leaders, K. G. Muraleedharan and K. Kunjikannan.

The KUWJ will sent mass petitions to the Chief Minister and the Speaker demanding withdrawal of the restrictions.

Meanwhile, activists of the Kerala Journalists Union (KJU) burnt an effigy which it branded as ``media censorship'' in front of the residence of the Information Minister, M. M. Hassan.

The KJU alleged that the curbs had been imposed with the connivance of the Government and were aimed at obstructing criticism of the Government from reaching the people.

The KJU also said the Kerala Assembly, which has a history of progressiveness was being forced to a retrograde state by such a move.

Moreover, invoking the guidelines on reporting Parliament proceedings to impose curbs within the Assembly was unjustifiable as could be evinced from the responses from the former Lok Sabha Speaker, P. A. Sangma, and the Deputy Speaker, P. M. Sayeed, the KJU said.

The KJU also resolved to carry forward with its agitation until the freedom of the Press was guaranteed.

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Cultural leaders flay curbs on Assembly coverage