India News | Dictatorship Prevails in Odisha in the Name of Democracy: Congress
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak on Wednesday accused the BJD government of suppressing the voice of journalists and alleged dictatorship is now prevailing in the state in the name of democracy.
Bhubaneswar, Sep 20 (PTI) Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak on Wednesday accused the BJD government of suppressing the voice of journalists and alleged dictatorship is now prevailing in the state in the name of democracy.
At a press conference here at the Congress Bhawan, Pattanayak said, "The BJP government is running a dictatorship government in Delhi. Here in Odisha, the BJD government also follows suit."
The attempts made to choke the voices of journalists and media shows that ‘dictatorship' is now prevailing in the state in the name of democracy, he said.
The Congress leader made this statement in the wake of the raid by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha police in the office of leading Odia daily Sambad.
The raids were conducted by separate teams of EOW on Monday after the investigating wing registered a case under different sections of the IPC including 420 (cheating) and 120-B (conspiracy) in a ‘bank loan fraud' case against the media house.
"The BJD government wants media organisations to only do their publicity and not report their wrongdoings. Whenever any journalist tries to report the truth about the government, the person concerned was either framed in a false case or shown the doors from the house allotted by the government," he alleged.
Alleging the the BJD government was trying to suppress the voice of the media, he said, "But, they will not succeed in their effort as people can judge all such attempts by the government."
The state government has imposed restrictions on entry of journalists at Lok Seva Bhawan and the lobby of the Assembly. Such restrictions were not prevalent during the Congress regime here, Pattanayak said.
"We strongly condemn all such attempts of the state government made to suppress the voice of journalists and media in the state," the Congress president said.
Commenting on the Women Reservation Bill introduced in Lok Sabha, Pattanayak said it was passed in the Rajya Sabha during then prime minister Manmohan Singh's tenure in 2010.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was the first person who tried to pass the Bill. So, Congress is the first party which has thought for proper representation of women in legislations, he claimed.
The ruling BJD, however, said media houses were not above the law.
"Nothing has been done to choke the voice of the media as alleged. The EOW raid was conducted as per the provisions of law," Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Pramila Mallik had told reporters on Tuesday.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)