Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar. (Source: Express Photo)
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar kicked off a controversy on Tuesday after alleging that public broadcaster Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) refused to broadcast his Independence Day address unless he made changes in it.
After mentioning India’s freedom struggle, the speech reads: “Before us on this year’s Independence Day are quite a few very relevant, important and contemporary issues. Unity in diversity is India’s traditional heritage. Great values of secularism have helped in keeping Indians together as a nation. But today, this spirit of secularism is under attack.”
Related: Doordarshan, AIR blacked out my Independence Day speech, told me reshape it: Tripura CM Manik Sarkar
You can read his entire speech below:
Sarkar, who is heading the Left Front government in the state, spoke about cow vigilantism and minority issues among other things in his address. “Conspiracies and attempts are underway to create an undesirable complexity and divisions in our society….by inciting passions to convert India into a particular religious country and in the name of protecting the cow. Because of all these people of Minority and Dalit communities are under attack.” Reiterating former Vice-president Hamid Ansari’s view, Sarkar also said, “Their sense of security is being shattered.”
Taking a veiled dig at RSS, Sarkar said that “the followers of these disruptive attempts” were not “associated with the Independence movement, rather sabotaged the freedom movement, were servile to the atrocious, plunderer and merciless British.”
A statement from the Tripura government said DD and AIR had recorded Sarkar’s speech on Saturday. At 7 pm Monday, the Chief Minister’s Office was informed via a letter that his speech would not be broadcasted unless he “reshaped it”. The letter purportedly said, “The message of the Chief Minister was closely examined by competent authority. In view of the sanctity of the occasion, the broadcast code and responsibility of the public broadcaster it is not possible to telecast it in the present format. However, Doordarshan/Prasar Bharati will be happy if the Chief Minister agrees to reshape the content making it suitable to the solemnity of the occasion and sentiment of the people,” it said.
