AAP trying to muzzle voice of media in Punjab: Sukhbir Badal
Darpan News Desk IANS, 26 May, 2023 10:13 AM
Chandigarh, May 26 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Friday accused the AAP government in Punjab of trying to muzzle the voice of media ever since it assumed power.
"The government has registered false cases against journalists besides banning web channels and even stopping advertisements to publications which refused to relay its propaganda," he said.
"It has also proceeded against artists, academicians and intellectuals. The SAD will do its utmost to guard the freedom of the press and democratic values and warns the AAP government not to trample upon civil rights in this manner."
Reacting to summoning of Managing Editor of the Ajit newspaper, Barjinder Singh Hamdard, Badal said the act of summoning of Hamdard by the state Vigilance Bureau was a "brazen act of a power drunk Chief Minister who wanted to exact revenge against the him for his principled stand on freedom of the press".
In a statement here, the SAD President expressed solidarity with Hamdard and said the Akali Dal would do its utmost to defend the voice of the media in Punjab.
Asserting that the intimidation of Hamdard had shocked Punjabis worldwide, Badal said the Chief Minister first stopped advertisements to the Ajit newspaper. "Then it started intimidating functionaries of the Ajit and now it has stooped down to persecuting its Managing Director. This is the height of vendetta politics and is totally unacceptable in a democracy."
Doctors said that the man's life could have been saved had he been brought to the hospital in time. The victim was the only son of his parents and was looking after the family business after the death of his father. He got married two years ago and his wife is four months pregnant.
Their family and well-wishers in Punjab say they were employed by a private company. They were sacked from their jobs, but their passports were not returned and were unable to return to India. Social activist Dilbagh Singh has written to Union External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, seeking their early extradition.
While campaigning in favour of AAP candidate Satinder Singh for by poll in Adampur in Haryana, the Chief Minister said the people of Punjab are trusting them, and AAP will never let this trust be broken at any cost. He said now it is Haryana's turn and the beginning of this change in Haryana will begin from the Adampur constituency.
The Indian embassy further advised citizens to contact it for any assistance needed for crossing the border. It also advised the citizens to contact Indian embassies in Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia as per their exit plans.
According to data shared by Delhi Police, from October 1 to 24, a total of 17,357.134 kg firecrackers were seized which were kept for storage or sale and a total of 150 firecrackers sales were registered.
The Chief Minister extended warm greetings to the people, especially the Sikhs, on the historic Bandi Chhor Diwas, to mark the release from prison of the sixth guru, Guru Hargobind, and 52 other princes with him, in 1619.
