Patna, Aug 26 : Bihar Labour Resources Minister Surendra Ram on Saturday called upon journalists to intensify their struggle when the corporate houses were trying to take full control of the media during the present regime at the Centre.
Addressing the national executive meeting of Indian Journalists Union (IJU) organised by Bihar Working Journalists Union (BWJU) at the annexe of Bihar legislative council, Ram, while obliquely targeting the Narendra Modi government, alleged that journalists were losing their professional liberty as they were being denied to perform their primary duties.
He said that similarly workers were being subjected to injustice and youths were also harassed a lot under the present regime in the centre.
“Journalists could not be intimidated even during the British Raj as they gave a good fight to it. So, it is important mediapersons continue to fight for their rights in a challenging time now,” Ram remarked.
The Minister said that the national wealth was being sold as the attempt was being made to establish ‘Company Raj’ in the country. He said mediapersons had to be ready to face all these new challenges.
He also assured mediapersons to consider their all due demands on a priority basis.
On this occasion, Bihar Legislative Council chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur said that the majority of the people in the country shared the concerns of journalists. He said despite all odds, journalism had not only survived but also made progress in the country.
Thakur also contended that he also did not subscribe to the view that democracy was in danger in any way as it was deeply rooted in the country.
“The democratic spirit is flowing into the blood of the people,” he remarked.
Making a reference to the emergency, the Council Chairman said that democracy could come under the cover of shadow but it could not be rooted out from the country.
Journalists had always surmounted challenges through their grit and determination as they could not be suppressed, he added.
Congress legislative party leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan said that journalists had a major role to play when the country was passing through a challenging time. He said that journalists’ main role was to bring the wrongdoing of a government to the notice of common people but attempts were being made to gag the press’s voice itself.
Despite all these odds, those journalists who want to reveal facts, they manage to do it as social media had emerged as an important tool for them.
Khan said that the present dispensation was attacking every institution and the media, known as the fourth pillar of democracy , could not be an exception. He said that journalists had to work hard during a difficult period.
BWJU President Nivedita Jha in her welcome address said that the media was passing through a tough phase. She said that it was important to create an independent and fearless press.
There is also no institutional arrangement for the pension of retired journalists and also no provision for the compensation to the family members of those mediapersons who lost their lives while discharging their professional duties.
BWJU General Secretary Kamal Kant Sahay apprehended that irreparable damage could be caused to the media if the marketing forces continued to dominate in a similar fashion. If the same trend continues, the credibility of the media itself would be put at risk, he added.
CPI (ML) MLA Sandeep Saurabh and CPI MLA Suryakant Paswan also spoke on the occasion.
Senior journalist Situ Tiwari conducted the inaugural ceremony.
