PATNA: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Saturday rejected the INDIA bloc’s recent decision to boycott the shows and events hosted by 14 journalists and news anchors, saying, “I am not against any journalist and it is wrong to boycott.”
Asked for his reaction on the INDIA bloc’s decision to boycott the shows of 14 news anchors, Nitish said, “Why should I boycott? I am in favour of journalists. Look, when journalists will get full freedom, they will write whatever they would consider proper and fit. Can journalists be kept under control? Did I ever keep any kind of control on journalists? Journalists have the right to write whatever they consider proper. I am not against anyone. It is wrong to boycott. The persons who are in the Centre right now have kept some people in their control and those people were committing some sorts of wrongdoings in journalism. Do you people not know all these things? I always respect you people (media persons)”.
Nitish, who was responding to media queries after inaugurating a project girls’ higher secondary school in the name of his spouse Manju Sinha at his hometown Bakhtiyarpur in Patna district, also pointed out that the people and parties who are with INDIA bloc might have felt that some incongruities are being committed in the field of journalism.
“However, I am not against any of the news anchors. …When all journalists will get complete freedom of expression, they all will be free to write in their own way what they would consider as proper and fit,” the JD(U) leader said.
Nitish is the first leader from the 26-party INDIA bloc who openly rejected the decision to boycott the television news anchors.
Earlier on Thursday, the Opposition bloc released a list of 14 television news anchors whose shows will be boycotted by the alliance’s media representatives.
The list came a day after the coordination committee of the 26 party-bloc held its first meeting in Delhi and released a joint statement. In the statement, the committee authorised its media group to decide on the names of the anchors on whose shows none of the INDIA parties will send their representatives.
Asked for his reaction on the INDIA bloc’s decision to boycott the shows of 14 news anchors, Nitish said, “Why should I boycott? I am in favour of journalists. Look, when journalists will get full freedom, they will write whatever they would consider proper and fit. Can journalists be kept under control? Did I ever keep any kind of control on journalists? Journalists have the right to write whatever they consider proper. I am not against anyone. It is wrong to boycott. The persons who are in the Centre right now have kept some people in their control and those people were committing some sorts of wrongdoings in journalism. Do you people not know all these things? I always respect you people (media persons)”.
Nitish, who was responding to media queries after inaugurating a project girls’ higher secondary school in the name of his spouse Manju Sinha at his hometown Bakhtiyarpur in Patna district, also pointed out that the people and parties who are with INDIA bloc might have felt that some incongruities are being committed in the field of journalism.
“However, I am not against any of the news anchors. …When all journalists will get complete freedom of expression, they all will be free to write in their own way what they would consider as proper and fit,” the JD(U) leader said.
Nitish is the first leader from the 26-party INDIA bloc who openly rejected the decision to boycott the television news anchors.
Earlier on Thursday, the Opposition bloc released a list of 14 television news anchors whose shows will be boycotted by the alliance’s media representatives.
The list came a day after the coordination committee of the 26 party-bloc held its first meeting in Delhi and released a joint statement. In the statement, the committee authorised its media group to decide on the names of the anchors on whose shows none of the INDIA parties will send their representatives.