On one Monday, Union Minister of State for Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar had issued an ultimatum to the Telangana MSO in Parliament that they must lift the arbitrary ban on TV9 and ABN Andhra Jyothi within two days.
He warned them that strict action would be taken if they did not abide by the directive. After his statement, many Mondays have gone by and the channels haven’t been unblocked.
Vexed by the long wait, representatives from electronic media met Prakash Javadekar. Like in the past, Javadekar requested them to give him two days time. “Just wait and watch what will happen after two days…,” he said making sensational headlines once again.
If one looks at the incident, TV9 and ABN Andhra Jyothi have been off air for the past three months in Telangana.
The TRS government washed its hands off the matter by saying that it was a decision taken by the MSOs in retaliation to the nasty comments made against TRS leaders on a popular channel. But in reality, such comments were made only on one channel. The other channel had nothing to do with the said comments.
Also, TV9 which aired the controversial comments rendered a public apology regretting the mistake. But the ban hasn’t been lifted on both the channels.
Given this background, the media has taken to streets to condemn the ban and staged dharnas in front of CM’s camp office and Raj Bhavan. Even women journalists took to streets to demand that the channels be revived.
Still, the TRS government did not bother to resolve the issue and the CM went to the extent of saying that if the channels or media houses want to continue in Telangana, they must salute him and his government.
Now, it remains to be seen if Prakash Jawadekar’s latest threat will have any impact on Telangana MSOs.
