New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday launched a veiled attack on the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre, saying that “dissent is being stifled and minorities feel increasingly insecure”. The Congress pre-sident was speaking at the programme organised to hand over the G.K. Reddy Memorial National award ann-ounced to late Vinod Mehta, which was accepted by his wife Sumita Mehta, at a function in Jawahar Bhavan. The function was attended by former PM Manmohan Singh, Dr Karan Singh, former Union minister Anand Sharma.
Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Dr T. Subbarami Reddy, who is the founder of the TSR Foundation, was also present.
In her brief speech, Mrs Gandhi 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.” She hailed the media for being brave to criticise the government in power. Referring to Mehta’s claim in his autobiography Lucknow Boy that journalists and politicians could not be friends, Mrs Gandhi said, “But he would have been surprised that how many of us across the political spectrum looked to VM as a friend.”
She lauded Mehta’s integrity, honesty and commitment to values. Mrs Gandhi noted that “he has never failed to raise voice against religious intolerance, communal violence and injustice”.
The award carries a cheque of Rs 5 lakh, a gold medal and citation. Dr Reddy, while welcoming the guests, said late G.K. Reddy was India’s finest journalist before and after India’s Independence and fearlessly informed the country on various issues, including foreign affairs.
Dr Reddy recalled that late G.K. Reddy worked for various newspapers, including Blitz, The Times of India, The Hindu. “Even Dr Manmohan Singh was among those who read late G.K. Reddy’s articles,” he said. Dr Karan Singh also recalled the contribution of late G.K. Reddy and said that he fearlessly reported from Pakistan at the time of Partition and threw light on how the Pak government was involved in the invasion of Kashmir. Dr Reddy told the audience that among the previous recipients of the awards were Prabhu Chawla, Shekhar Gupta, N. Ravi, Aroon Purie and others.
