By Vikas Dhoot
Minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, V Narayanasamy, on Tuesday said the country “is going down” because of the ballyhoo about corruption created by media “which itself is corrupt”, the CBI which has “no corporate knowledge” but hounds even honest industrialists, and the judiciary which gets swayed by media trials and doesn’t want public perceptions to go against it.
Issuing a terse warning to media houses, Mr Narayanasamy said that media currently enjoys self-regulation, but the government would be compelled to rein it in, if status quo continues. “If self-regulation isn’t followed, some kind of regulation will be brought by the government. We will take a call ultimately,” he said.
The junior minister in Dr Manmohan Singh’s office said corporate India was the worst affected due to the current situation of interrogations, trial and punishment by the news media and the lack of understanding about technical issues among those “passing judgements and decisions.”
“Even honest and upright people from corporate houses that invested money are being harassed, not by the government but by the system,” Mr Narayanasamy said, referring to India’s “vibrant” media and online platforms like Facebook and Twitter, where “all information and disinformation” can be put up.
“The corporate houses are the worst affected, even honest and sincere corporate houses are being framed. Because the people who are sitting for the purpose of deciding the matter, I don’t want to name them, they have no corporate knowledge and they are giving the decision… the judgment,” the minister said at a conference on governance, moral leadership and transparency held in the Capital on Tuesday.
Though he didn’t directly name the Comptroller Auditor General’s office, which has been slammed by several Cabinet ministers for wrecking investor sentiment and economic growth, Narayanasamy challenged the auditor’s loss calculations on the 2G spectrum scam.
“As many as 122 circles have been auctioned (for spectrum) – the government got only 20,000 crore. But the whole world was saying it is 1.76 lakh crore. Who is to be blamed? he asked.
“If I say something about the judiciary, then I will be hauled up for contempt. Someone can file a petition against me,” the minister added as a virtual disclaimer.
“Unfortunately, people who have nothing to do with administration, who have not seen the public, who are not elected, who are not in the bureaucracy or corporate houses – are taking a view on crime. Ultimately, the result is the country is going down,” he lamented. Turning the scanner on the news media, the minister said media is not corruption-free, as is evident from the scourge of sting operations and paid news. “No media house follows the self regulation. They come to the streets to fight against the government that our rights are being taken away,” the minister said, reminding news organisations that their duty is to give people a correct picture of what is happening and not engage in media trials.
Source:The Economic Times
Copyright © 2013, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Licensed to republish