Biplab Deb did not retract his comment, but said he did not intend to threaten anyone. (FILE)
Agartala:
Wearing black masks, journalists from different parts of Tripura staged a demonstration here on Thursday to protest against the alleged threat from Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb addressed to them last month and the “attacks” on scribes.
Media representatives under the banner of the Assembly of Journalists (AOJ) gathered outside the Rabindra Bhavan in Agartala and staged a sit-in.
“We will continue our movement until he (Deb) withdraws his comment, which is unworthy of a chief minister,” said AOJ official Sekhar Datta.
Mr Deb, while laying the foundation stone for a special economic zone in Sabroom in the southern district of Tripura on September 11, said some newspapers were trying to confuse people in the state about their COVID-19 situation and he will not “forgive” them.
“Some newspapers try to confuse the confusion … History will not forgive them, the people of Tripura will not forgive them and I Biplab Deb will not forgive them. I do as I say, the story in testify, “said Mr. Deb told me.
This was interpreted as a threat to them by the journalists who demanded that the CM withdraw it.
Mr Deb did not retract his comment, but said he did not intend to threaten anyone in his speech.
During the protest, AOJ President Subal Kumar Dey said two teams of seasoned scribes recently visited different parts of the state and found that the professional rights of journalists in the districts were being violated.
“Journalists working in the districts and subdivision towns are working under great pressure. No government official wants to talk to them because of a gag order issued by the government and the mafias dictate how the information should be published.” Mr Dey said.
The AOJ had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Press Council of India, alleging that at least six journalists had been assaulted since the CM’s statement of September 11, and despite filing complaints, no progress in the investigation was found in any of them.
The journalists had also met Governor RK Bais, requesting his intervention to end the alleged intimidation of journalists and protested by wearing black badges on the Gandhi Jayanti.
Mr Dey alleged that at least 25 journalists have been assaulted in the state since the BJP-IPFT government came to power in March 2018.
He also said that their agitation received the solidarity of major journalistic bodies such as the Editors Guild, the European Union of Journalists, Bangladesh Sangbadik Sangha, Mukto Prakash, Dhaka and the Indian Newspaper Society.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
