'An attempt to gag the press'

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JUNE 2. Calling it an ``attack on the freedom of the press in the most medieval and barbaric way'', the Editor-in- Chief of Outlook, Mr. Vinod Mehta, today said the income tax raids on his proprietors and ransacking of the magazine's Mumbai office was an attempt to gag them.

At a press conference organised here by the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) in protest against ``press-bashing'', Mr. Mehta charged that ``since the past three months after Outlook published a cover story against the Government, they had received warnings, both veiled and clear, from the highest powers in the NDA Government''.

``When warnings did not bear fruit, they cracked down on our proprietors, the R. Raheja group of companies,'' Mr. Mehta said, adding that he was shocked at the `crude manner' in which the entire operation was carried out.

Stating that he had no political affiliations, Mr. Mehta said he even wrote a protest letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, saying such behaviour was least expected from the victims of the Emergency. ``And in reply, the Prime Minister said he was not aware that this had happened,'' Mr. Mehta disclosed, adding, ``This is either unbelievable or something terribly wrong is going on in this country.''

Lauding the solidarity of middle and junior level scribes in his fight, Mr. Mehta said the silence of ``so-called eminences'' of his profession and editors on this issue was deafening. It was unfortunate that barring a few Delhi newspapers, others had even failed to report their protest, he added.

Mr. Mehta further said, ``I'm not a crusader. If we have criticised those in power, we have also praised them. The present Government treats a journalist either as a friend or an enemy. For them there is nothing called an independent scribe.''

Lashing out at the Press Council for not speaking out on the issue, Mr. Mehta said the style in which the present Government was functioning has `brought back the Emergency days for journalists'.

The tehelka.com chief, Mr. Tarun Tejpal, who was present, said: ``If you make the Government unhappy, they make you unhappy in return.'' In the Tehelka episode, on the one hand when the guilty Army officers were being nailed, the silence on the Government's part in penalising politicians and others involved in the scam was deafening, he added.

The DUJ later passed a resolution condemning the Government for `curbing the freedom of the press and unleashing a reign of terror on scribes'. It also demanded an independent inquiry into the entire episode. The DUJ will hand over a copy of the resolution to the President, Mr. K.R. Narayanan, soon and will also hold a protest march before the beginning of Parliament's monsoon session.

Others who spoke included the Press Institute of India director, Mr. Ajit Bhattacharjee; the Press Club of India president, Mr. Prabhat Dabral; Editor of Hans magazine, Mr. Rajendra Yadav; the Press Association of India president, Mr. Dev Sagar Singh; and the Editors Guild of India general secretary, Mr. Alok Mehta.

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