A government asking journalists to produce character certificates to be able to cover the Prime Minister’s public events is another first that independent India has witnessed in its 75 years of existence.
Authorities in BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh issued a notification last week saying all journalists looking to cover Wednesday’s rally and other events involving Narendra Modi in Bilaspur needed to furnish character certificates.
The district public relations officer (DPRO) refused to accept requests to issue passes to the media, insisting that “character verification” was mandatory.
Although the order was withdrawn on Tuesday after protests, it has given the Congress ammunition against Modi and the BJP.
Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh put out a sarcastic tweet, saying: “Rahul Gandhi has had two press interactions so far during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. A third will be held very soon. Incidentally, no ‘character certificates’ are required for journalists to be at the interactions or cover the Yatra. And no teleprompters used!”
The Congress never misses an opportunity to taunt Modi for failing to hold a single news conference after becoming Prime Minister in 2014, while underlining that Rahul interacts with the media regularly.
The Congress also accuses the Prime Minister of giving regulated interviews to pliant journalists instead of facing questions from independent media professionals. Modi doesn’t answer questions in Parliament, either.
After the character certificate controversy, the Congress posted this tweet: “Terms and conditions for character certificate to journalists: Has to write and speak sweetly in praise, no mention of real issues and facts, doesn’t expose jumlas, no questions for BJP governments, must be immersed in blind loyalty, should be cable of diverting attention from true concerns, must describe the Opposition as weak and hail the operation to malign opponents.”
Congress media department head Pawan Khera tweeted a caution for journalists: “Tum jitna jhukoge, woh tumhen aur jhukaenge. Tum jitna giroge, woh tumhe aur giraenge (The more you stoop, the more they will force you to stoop. However low you fall, they will compel you to fall lower).”
While the Prime Minister and the BJP leadership may have suffered the embarrassment because of an overzealous local bureaucracy, the Congress has pounced on the opportunity to once again accuse them of trying to control the media.
With polls due in Himachal in a couple of months, the issue is unlikely to die down anytime soon.
The controversial notification was issued on September 29. It directed the DPRO to provide a list of all “correspondents, photographers, videographers team of Doordarshan Kendra and AIR along with a certificate of their character verification” to the deputy superintendent of police, CID, Bilaspur, by October 1.
“Their access within the rally or meeting will be decided by this office,” the notification read.
On Tuesday, however, state director-general of police Sanjay Kundu clarified in a tweet that all journalists were welcome to cover the events and that Himachal police would “facilitate their coverage”.
The Bilaspur superintendent of police too wrote to the DPRO on Tuesday saying the September 29 order had been “issued inadvertently” and now stood withdrawn.
Modi is scheduled to address a rally on the Luhnu Ground in Bilaspur. He will inaugurate AIIMS Bilaspur and launch several other projects. BJP-led administrations usually pull out the stops to give publicity to such events instead of imposing curbs on the media.
Modi’s previous rally in Himachal, scheduled for September 24 in Mandi city, was cancelled because of bad weather.
