National

Attack on editor condemned

Mumbai: Incidents like the recent attack on the residence of Kumar Ketkar, editor of Loksatta, a Marathi daily, were unfortunate and the government should enforce the law to safeguard the fundamental freedoms of its citizens, said D.M. Sukhtankar, former chief secretary of Maharashtra and municipal commissioner of Mumbai and acting chairman of Action for Good Governance and Networking in India (AGNI).

He was speaking here on Wednesday at a press conference organised by AGNI and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Luminaries from the media and voluntary organisations came together at this meeting to condemn the attack on Mr. Ketkar for an editorial and demonstrate their solidarity with him.

Mr. Sukhtankar said the editorial was a satirical comment on the lack of governance in the state. He wondered how many of the attackers had actually read the piece. The editorial had questioned the Maharashtra governments decision to erect a 309-foot statue of Shivaji in the Arabian Sea, when weightier problems were crying for solution.

Julio Ribeiro, former Mumbai Commissioner, regretted the indiscriminate flouting of law and regulations in our country. Any civilised country has to respect the rule of law, he said, adding, If it [law] is not upheld, people will lose faith [in law)] and we will become puppets in the hands of a few.

He said every individual had the right to expression, and only when someone said anything unconstitutional could it attract institutional action. Many times politicians said unconstitutional things, but the police were afraid to take action, fearing violent backlashes.

Darryl Demanto, former editor of The Times of India, raised concerns over the right to expression. He said the 1975 Emergency was a critical time when the media truly realised the importance of this right.

Citing the instances of vandalism in recent times, as in the case of painter M.F. Hussain and an art student from Baroda, he said these were reactions based on imagined insults to our frail sensibilities. Why cant we learn how to disagree with each other in a democratic fashion? he asked. Surendra Srivastava of an NGO differed from the view that the attack was provoked by the editorial. Instead, he thought it was a response to Mr. Ketkars criticism of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) over a period of time. He said political parties today used the divide and rule policy, like the British and therefore nothing had changed.

He held that the media had to come forward if democracy has to be cherished and saved.

Dolphy DSouza, president of The Bombay Catholic Sabha called for exemplary punishment to the assailants.

Shyama Kulkarni, coordinator of AGNI said the state should organise educational excursions to Raigad and Pratapgad, famous forts of Maharashtra, to make the youth learn about Shivaji and turn him into a role model for good governance, rather than a puppet in the hands of political parties.

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