Chennai: Leaders including DMK chief M. Karunanidhi on Saturday condemned the ban on NDTV Hindi telecast for a day on November 9 and sought immediate withdrawal of the order.
Karunanidhi said the ban order had come ten months after the telecast of the terrorist attack and added that most of the channels had resorted to live telecast of the incident, but NDTV had been singled out for punishment. The DMK leader also cited the views that a committee of central government officials should not have decided on the issue.
The DMK leader said the action violated freedom of expression and it would lead to the black days of emergency again. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should intervene and assure that there would be no danger to democracy or freedom or expression. The DMK leader also condemned the arrest of Congress VP Rahul Gandhi.
MDMK general secretary Vaiko described the one-day ban on NDTV telecast as an attack on democracy and said it is similar to the days of emergency. The BJP government is trying to threaten the media and suppressing freedom of expression, he said.
The CPM politbureau said "This is a brazen attack on media freedom and an attempt to gag freedom of expression. It reveals the increasingly authoritarian attitude of the Modi government".
It demanded the immediate withdrawal of the ban order and an assurance from the government that such arbitrary actions would not be undertaken in the future.
