With empty Opposition benches, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, while answering a starred question in Rajya Sabha filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Dola Sen, launched a broadside at the West Bengal government for allegedly intimidating journalists in the State.
At the last count, including Ms. Sen, 46 MPs had been suspended in Rajya Sabha in the winter session of Parliament. Ms. Sen had asked whether the government had any policy framework or had implemented any guidelines for ensuring the safety of journalists.
The remaining few Opposition MPs, including the Leader of the Opposition, had walked out earlier. Facing the vacant Opposition seats, Mr. Thakur said that while the Central government was committed to protecting every citizen of India, law and order was a State subject.
In 2017, he pointed out, the Home Ministry had issued an advisory and directed States to make comprehensive arrangements for the safety of journalists. “There are frequent reports of deadly attacks on journalists and violent incidents from West Bengal. The State government of West Bengal should work to provide a safe environment to journalists,” Mr. Thakur said.
Continuing unchallenged in the absence of the Opposition, the Minister further said that the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra was going on across the country but West Bengal was the only State where the its vehicles had been vandalised. “This is clearly a conspiracy to deprive the poor and needy of West Bengal from development. When journalists go to show this, they also face danger to their lives and property,” Mr. Thakur said.
The Minister read out about a series of attacks on journalists in West Bengal. “On the day of West Bengal civic elections in October, 2015, 20 journalists were beaten up and their mics and cameras were broken in the Salt Lake area [in Kolkata]. In February, 2022, four journalists were beaten up in civic polls in north Dumdum and east Midnapore. Ten journalists were beaten up in Kolkata and various districts during the process of filing nominations for the 2023 panchayat elections. In June 2013, while covering an internal feud between TMC leaders, three photojournalists were beaten so badly in Barrackpore that they had to be admitted to the hospital,” Mr. Thakur said.
