Dissent is being stifled, minorities feel insecure: Sonia

PTI
NEW DELHI, MAY 9

Mounting yet another attack on Modi government, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said dissent is being stifled and minorities feel increasingly insecure.Gandhi was speaking at a ceremony to honour eminent Editor Vinod Mehta, who passed away recently, with G K Reddy Memorial National award. The award was received by Mehta’s wife Sumita.
Addressing the gathering, which included former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Congress President said, “In the present climate when dissent is being stifled, when the minorities feel increasingly insecure, when the secular fabric of our society is threatened, when bigotry and obscurantism seem to flourish unchecked, we miss Vinod Mehta’s works.”
Gandhi has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of running a government “of some people, by one person, for a select few”.
Lauding Mehta’s integrity, honesty and commitment to values, she said, “He has never failed to raise his voice against religious intolerance, communal violence and social injustice.”
Calling Mehta a passionate upholder of our “democratic and secular ideas”, the Congress President said that he was also a courageous crusader of the causes that he believed were just and a proud and “eloquent advocate of our pluralistic society”.
She also quoted the late Editor as saying that politicians and journalists can never be friends and they were naturally adversaries. “But he would have been surprised that how many of us across the political spectrum looked to VM as a friend,” she said.
Gandhi said that Mehta had an instinctive understanding of what the freedom of the press meant “to our country, that it was a cornerstone of our democracy and without this freedom, all our other liberties would be threatened”.
The award carries a cheque of Rs 5 lakh, a gold medal and citation.
Mehta, a distinguished Editor and commentator who had successfully launched a number of newspapers and magazines, passed away in New Delhi on March 8 after prolonged illness. He was 73.
Mehta, who was Editorial Chairman of ‘Outlook’ magazine which he had founded, also wrote the best selling autobiography ‘Lucknow Boy’ in 2011.
Born in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) in 1942, Mehta was known for his bold journalism.

Press freedom should not be violated: Manmohan

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said freedom of the press should not be violated as it is very important in a democratic set-up.
“Freedom of the press is very important in our democratic set-up and it should not violated,” Singh said responding to queries from journalists on the sidelines of a function here to give an award to late journalist Vinod Mehta.
He was asked about recent attacks on the media by some government functionaries and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) rating India, along with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan among the “worst offenders” in the region in protecting journalists in 2014-15.
In the report ‘The Freedom Frontier- Press Freedom in South Asia’, which was released here yesterday, the IFJ had advocated a strong need for a campaign to ensure that those who abduct, attack or kill journalists were brought to justice.
The report also mentioned the use of word “presstitutes” by Union minister V K Singh and measures by West Bengal government to restrict movement of reporters in the state secretariat building. The newly-elected governments of Delhi and Telangana also issued similar directives, the report had said.
The report also talked about the ban on the BBC documentary on the December 16 gangrape case.
At the ceremony organized by TSR Foundation to give G K Reddy Memorial National Award to Mehta, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said that Mehta had an instinctive understanding of what the freedom of press meant “to our country, that it was a cornerstone of our democracy and without this freedom, all our other liberties would be threatened”.