NEW DELHI, May 5:
Prasar Bharati CEO, Jawhar Sircar, who has locked horn with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) over autonomy of the public broadcaster, today said he wanted an independent external inquiry into the controversial editing of Doordarshan interview of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Sircar expressed his distrust in any official inquiry into the whole episode and accused the Ministry of not honouring previous recommendations of the Prasar Bharati pertaining to News Wing in the All-India Radio, “leading to complications.”
The Prasar Bharati has no control over the top officials in DD News, and the Ministry has refused to part even with operational autonomy, he said.
“We have asked the Ministry to tell us clearly whether they would abide by a neutral enquiry or not. We would set up a fair inquiry by external professionals and not by officials after the Ministry assured the Board that they would abide by it,” the CEO said.
After allegations that the Doordarshan had deliberately edited out those portions of Modi’s interview in which he had referred to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her mother UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s political adviser Ahmad Patel, Mr Sircar had launched a fresh attack on the Ministry alleging that it was denying functional autonomy to the Prasar Bharati.
The BJP and Mr Modi themselves had come out with sharp attack on the Government after the editing controversy accusing the UPA Government of keeping the public broadcaster under its tight control.
The Prasar Bharati CEO had on Saturday said that he would decide on a probe into the matter after studying related papers on Monday.
However, today he came with fresh allegations against the Ministry escalating the row.
The News Wing of the Doordarshan had on the other hand came out with a strong denial that it had deliberately edited out some portions of the Modi interview recorded on April 26 and telecast on April 27.
“Whatever editing was done was for technical reasons,” it had in a statement on May 1 said.
Mr Sircar had a few months back shot off a long letter to Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tiwari accusing the Ministry of gagging the autonomy of the public broadcaster, and blocking all his attempts to revitalise the organisation.
He had vowed that he would never surrender to the Ministry when it comes to fighting for the autonomy of the Prasar Bharati. (UNI)
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