New Delhi: While speaking at the NDTV Defense Summit, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has said that during the Emergency, the freedom of media was suppressed and crushed. Articles were read before being published in newspapers. Newspaper headlines were decided by the headquarters of a party. Journalists were sent to jail and tortured for opposing the government. Rajnath Singh told that he himself had gone to jail during the Emergency. He said that he is saying these things because for some time, the media has been accused of speaking in favor of the government and not being impartial, the media is speaking the language of the government.
Rajnath Singh said that all these allegations are baseless, on this I would like to say one thing that both the government and the media are parts of the society. Rajnath Singh said that those things on which there is social consensus in the society, it is obvious that those things will come to the fore in the talks of both the government and the media. Giving the example of America, Rajnath Singh said that the people there have accepted that the rise of China is dangerous for America’s global position. When society has accepted this, it is also visible in America’s policy. The US government sees China as a threat to its global positioning. This stand of the American government is also visible in the American media.
He said, reading the articles of American media shows that the media there sees China as a threat. But this does not mean that the government there has controlled the media. In a democratic country, be it India, America or European countries, whatever the society thinks, the government works in the direction of social consensus. The writers, thinkers and media there also work in this direction but it does not mean that they are acting as puppets of the government. They have their own independent existence. Similarly, this is the policy of our government under the leadership of the Prime Minister which is reflected in the media here. For example, if our government says that we will give top priority to the interests of India and talk about ‘India First’, then this will be reflected in the media also. If the government talks about a corruption-free system, it will be reflected in the media also.
The Defense Minister said that this is the reason why whenever a corrupt person is caught, the media gives detailed coverage on it. Rajnath Singh said that in a democratic system the opposition is also a social institution. It is unfortunate that at present the opposition is not discharging its responsibility of bringing forward social consensus. Rajnath Singh said that the media also criticizes our policies and schemes. Whenever there is such criticism, we accept it and also try to improve it. We have a positive attitude towards criticism. He said that the media took a serious stance regarding GST and wherever there was any shortcoming in it, the media used to report it. Our government used to remove those shortcomings and today GST has become a stable system.
Media was suppressed during Emergency, today media is free and fair: Rajnath Singh
