New Delhi: Opposition leaders Sitaram Yechury and G Devarajan were asked to drop words like ‘Muslims’ and ‘bankruptcy’, and phrases like ‘communal authoritarian regime’ and ‘draconian laws’ from their All India Radio and Doordarshan speeches on April 16, Indian Express has reported.
The report said:
While CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had to delete the two terms and replace the word “bankruptcy” of the governance with “failure” during his televised address in the Doordarshan studio in the national capital, All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) leader G Devarajan was asked to avoid the word “Muslims” in his address recorded in Kolkata.
National and state parties are given time to communicate speeches on AIR and Doordarshan.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Prasar Bharati told the paper that both public broadcasters had to follow the Election Commission’s “conduct rules.” An official claims that these corrections take place “with most leaders.”
It is noteworthy that this election season has seen unprecedented hate speech from the likes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Bharatiya Janata Party leaders. Often, these speeches have been directly broadcast on news channels. Repeated pleas for action against such utterances, by opposition leaders to the Election Commission, have not stirred the poll body.
Express reports that the guidelines prescribe that speakers refrain from criticising communities, religions, countries, or specific people, or cast aspersions on the judiciary or the president, and so on.
Yechury told the paper that the Hindi version of his speech was taken without any alterations.
Devarajan was asked to remove the word “Muslims” in a speech on the discriminatory clauses in the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). He had to use “particular community” instead.
