CPM refuses to broadcast poll speech ‘censored’ by Doordarshan

Guwahati: The Assam unit of CPM on Saturday refused to record its poll speech, which was to be broadcast from the Doordarshan Kendra here, after it was asked to “delete vital content on the Rafale scam and comments calling the BJP communal”.
Senior CPM leader Ajit Das went to the Doordarshan Kendra here to record the speech on Saturday. “The poll speech of the party state committee had been sent to Doordarshan Kendra for vetting as per norms. It was heavily censored,” a statement issued by the Assam state committee of CPM said on Saturday.

Das refused to do away with the “censored” sections. “There was no choice but to pull out of the show. Prasar Bharati has always invited our party for recording poll speech that is aired during elections, but it was never censored like this,” he said.

CPM state secretary Deben Bhattacharya agreed. “In all our poll speeches over the years, we have launched scathing attacks against the ruling dispensation but never faced such censorship ... Curbing a political party’s anti-government and anti-ruling party speech in the name of neutrality is a threat to democracy,” he said.

Prasar Bharati officials could not be reached for comment. The Assam CPM unit, however, produced the “censored version” of the speech.

One section that was removed before the scheduled broadcast, the CPM state secretary said, went: “After corruption charges were levelled against the Prime Minister on corruption and scam pertaining to the Rafale fighter jets’ procurement, BJP government’s corruption and depravity has been revealed before the people.”

Another part of the speech, saying that the “government’s communal politics has carried an immense threat to the country’s unity and harmony”, was also censored.

Yet another section that was cut was a statement that the “five-year rule of the BJP-led government at the Centre has degraded four fundamental pillars of the constitution: (1) secular democracy, (2) economic self-reliance, (3) social justice and (4) federal structure”.

CPM’s criticism of Asom Gana Parishad for joining NDA again, days before the Lok Sabha election, was also censored, as was a call to the people to vote for the strongest, secular candidates in seats where the Left has not fielded any candidate.