Rahul Gandhi, who was first held on the post of Leader of Opposition for the first time, often talks about setting up ‘Mohabbat shop’ in ‘hate market’. The mainstream media of the country also shows and publishes it prominently. But the way Rahul Gandhi is making statements against the media himself, he not only demonstrates his misdeeds, but also works to hurt the dignity of the entire media. During a rally in Mhow in Madhya Pradesh on January 27, Rahul Gandhi tried to put all the media houses in the dock, then during a rally in the capital Delhi, he did not leave any core in the capital Delhi to tell the media as enemies. . It seems as if Rahul Gandhi is running a campaign to end his political issue of saving the constitution as well as the right to freedom of media.
The constitution that Rahul Gandhi is running a political campaign to save, that campaign is working to shake the foundation of democracy. Our constitution is a result of the collective thinking of ‘Hum, people of India’ which was done in the Constituent Assembly for two years, eleven months and seventeen days. The nectar of democracy came out of this brainstorm, it has been giving immortality to the rights of every citizen of this country for 75 consecutive years. The first four words of the Preamble of this Constitution ‘Hum, the people of India’ are the life element of our democracy. Through these four words, the Brahmastra, the right to freedom of expression to keep the immortality of democracy intact, also handed over the Brahmastra to citizens.
The thing to note here is that in the history of 75 years, many such occasions came when an attempt was made to end the right to freedom of expression. Many times there was a ego among the leaders of political parties that their thinking, understanding and logical ability is better than the collective thinking of ‘We, people of India’. They did not know when the ego of the leaders to understand better than the public, they did not know. As a result, whenever these leaders came to power, they used constitution amendments and strength to eliminate the right to freedom of expression, curb media and information mechanisms. When Rahul Gandhi is running a campaign against media freedom today, it is important to understand it in totality.
To satisfy ego, the support of hatred
When the leaders of the political party start to understand their thinking and understanding better than the thinking of the public, then how the hatred spreads can be understood by some fresh example. On 28 January, the Congress organized “Jai Bapu, Jai Bhima, Jai Constitution Rally” in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh. To address this rally, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the main face of the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi also reached. Addressing the rally, Rahul Gandhi said, “This media is roaming around with camera, this is not your media. You die hungry, your children die hungry, commit suicide, farmers die, they do not mind. We will not talk about the farmer of India, will not talk about the laborer, will not talk about unemployed youth. It will be a matter of Afghanistan, it will be a matter of Pakistan, but the matter of India, the matter of farmers, but the workers will not talk. And they are penetrating every house of you. All are unemployed, there is no other way in India, brother, watch TV, which will have to be seen twenty four hours, which will have to be seen. Hindustan is engaged in intimidation, look-see what is happening in Afghanistan, see what is happening there. Hey brother, tell us what is happening in India ”. These words tell the thinking of Rahul Gandhi, in which it has been assumed that they can think better about the people of India and the people who come to hear have no ability to think and understand. He saw the solution to his compulsion that he should create dissatisfaction against the media and journalists, to create hatred in the society.
This is not the first example of Congress or Rahul Gandhi to create dissatisfaction or hatred in society for media and journalists. On reaching Delhi the very next day, Rahul Gandhi says that media people are not his friends. Not only this, by insulting some journalist in the press conference, Rahul Gandhi wants to realize that the public should also treat the media and journalists the same. This episode of provoking people against the media is constantly increasing.
Remember, just before the Lok Sabha elections, the opposition parties of the country formed an India alliance and on behalf of this alliance, Congress leader Pawan Kheda announced that he will boycott 14 journalists of the country. He said “As per the decision taken by the ‘India’ Coordination Committee in its meeting on September 13, 2023, the opposition coalition teams will not send their representatives to these 14 anchor shows and programs.” News Broadcasters on this decision of India alliance The End Digital Association (NBDA) responded, “Stopping the representatives of the opposition coalition from going to the program of some top TV news anchors is against democratic values and it is a sign of intolerance and puts the freedom of the press in danger. Is.
Emergency period
The work of creating a feeling of dissatisfaction and hatred against media institutions and journalists or closing their voice is not being done today, but worse was from 1975 to 1977 during the 21 months. ‘We, people of India’, when the country was expressing his feelings on corruption, inflation and unemployment from the power of the country, the Prime Minister of the country, Indira Gandhi, considered it treason. This gap not only frightened Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, but he took the step which was never imagined by ‘Hum, people of India’. Emergency was imposed in the country on the midnight of 25 June 1975 and the right to freedom of expression was completely abolished. According to the government, a decree was issued to publish news on media institutions. Institutions and journalists who did not do so were either locked behind bars or took away the facilities to publish newspapers from them. Wherever the public staged a sit -in protest on the policies of the government in the country, all those people were lodged in jails and torture to calm the flame of expression of their mind. The attempt that this cycle of Daman, which lasted for 21 months silent democracy, could not succeed because the blood of democracy flows in the rag of ‘we, people of India’. Therefore, India is considered the mother of democracy in the world.
Attempt to strangle as soon as the republic is over
No one can forget that as soon as the republic became, the mother of democracy ‘Hum, the people of India’ was strangled. On January 26, 1950, it was only 14 months since the Constituent Assembly assimilated that the first Constitution Amendment was introduced by Prime Minister Nehru to control the right to freedom of expression. The special thing is that till this time there was no first election in the country. ‘Hum, the people of India’ did not send the delegates and sent it to Parliament, yet this amendment was introduced in the interim parliament. The reason for bringing this amendment was that the media was criticizing the policies of the Congress government and the Supreme Court of the country was declaring the wrong policies of the government as non -constitutional. This led to a gap between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s thinking and ‘Hum, people of India’ and as a result, despite all the protests, Pandit Nehru gave Article 19 and 31 of the Constitution to the Interim Parliament in Article 19 and 31 on the basis of number force. Got the amendment passed. There were 246 votes in favor of this amendment and 14 votes in opposition. Prior to the amendment, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru clearly wrote in a letter to the Chief Ministers of the state that media and courts are becoming an obstacles in the work of government and legislature. He wrote in the letter, “Things are now out of tolerance. We have to find a solution to this, even if it means amendment in the constitution, even then. “
The building of democracy is formed by the right to freedom of expression. Whenever the limit of tolerating it is broken, then dictatorship stems from hatred. Today, when the opposition has failed to make its penetration among the public with three consecutive elections at the center, then this shop of hate will be able to be used seriously.
Harish Chandra Barnwal is a senior journalist and writer …
Disclaimer (Disclaimer): The ideas expressed in this article are personal views of the author.