On June 5, 2017, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids on the Delhi, Dehradun, and Mussoorie-based offices and premises of NDTV Promotors, Prannoy Roy and his wife, Radhika. Of course, as expected…as of today, there has been quite a furore related to the CBI’s action, which the promoters are citing as ‘concerted harassment’ with a view to silence the media (in particular, NDTV that has not been fawning over the Prime Minister). In fact, many are seeing it as an act against the freedom of the press…i.e. the Centre’s attempt (rather, the Prime Minister’s attempt) to muzzle the free-wielding press.
ImageCourtesy: HT
Some, in fact, have gone to the extent of comparing the act (i.e. ‘CBI raids on the NDTV promotor’s premises’) to the days of Emergency under the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, when the media was under duress and was combatting censorship. Of course, in the present scenario…nothing could be farther from the truth.
For starters, it is not the first time that the promotors of NDTV have come under the scanner. Only last year they were charged with violating the provisions of FEMA (or Foreign Exchange Management Act) and were accused of money laundering. Not to mention the fact that they admitted to FEMA violations and thereafter moved the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to compound the ₹ 2030 crore FEMA notice (albeit unsuccessfully), proves beyond a doubt that all is not clean and clear in the Roy camp.
What is astounding in this case is the charges of ‘witch-hunting’ that the Roys are busy labelling against the government?!? Why can’t the government and its agencies investigate media houses and their respective promoters? Is the media in this country above the law? Besides, as we all have seen after the Radia tape expose, media and media-men are not all walking-talking saints. There has been enough evidences of their complicity and duplicity in scams.
Thus, what is wrong if the promoters of NDTV are being investigated?!? If they have done no wrong, they cannot be wrongfully convicted. After all, we are not living in the dark ages of the pharaoh; they will be judged by the law of the land.
In fact, as a democracy that has seen a string of scams in the last few years (albeit with the collusion of certain media personnels), we need a system whereby every person in power (be they a part of the executive, legislature, judiciary or media), needs to be thoroughly scanned before being given a clean chit. After all, how can we expect the democracy to thrive if certain people (in power) demanded exemption from the law under the name of privacy/freedom of press, etc.
Thus, all this hue-and-cry over the CBI raids by the Roy’s and other media houses is nothing but an attempt to turn the eye away from their own wrong-doing in the name of freedom-of-press. But the most important thing that they seem to be forgetting in the process is that since this isn’t the Spanish Inquisition, the Roys needn’t worry about ‘witch-hunting’ if they are not witches. Simple!
