New Delhi: As Kerala Police on Sunday (March 5, 2023) carried out a “search” on the workplace of the Malayalam information channel Asianet News, Leader of Opposition within the state Assembly VD Satheesan slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and mentioned that the motion was “a sign of intolerance against protests, criticism or questioning of those in power” and it has been on an increase within the state. He acknowledged that such actions point out that there isn’t a distinction between the Narendra Modi-led authorities on the Centre and the Pinarayi Vijayan regime in Kerala. Satheesan additionally referred to Vijayan because the ‘mundu (dhoti) carrying Modi’. He mentioned that the prime minister used the earnings tax to raid BBC places of work and the Kerala CM used the crime department wing of police to look the Asianet News workplace.
“Kerala Chief Minister is proving that he is ‘Modi in dhoti’. What Modi did in the BBC office same was done here in the Asianet News office by the CM. This is a clear signal of intolerance. Both (CM and PM) are trying to frighten critics,” Satheesan instructed the media.
Days after a bunch of Students’ Federation of India (SFI) activists allegedly barged into the Kochi workplace of Malayalam information channel Asianet News, Kerala Police on Sunday carried out a “search” on the Kozhikode workplace of the media home workplace in reference to a case.
A senior police officer, who was main the crew that arrived on the Kozhikode workplace, later instructed reporters right here that the “search” was carried out as a part of the investigation within the case.
“No documents have been taken,” he mentioned.
According to varied information stories, the case registered by police relies on a criticism lodged by a politician alleging that an interview finished by the channel of a schoolgirl who was allegedly pressured to work as a drug courier was pretend information.
Earlier on March 3, SFI activists trespassed into the Kochi workplace of the information channel and intimidated the employees there.Â
A case was later registered towards 30 SFI activists, the scholars’ wing of the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala, on the idea of a criticism lodged by the channel.
The search was additionally condemned by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala which termed it as a “fascist approach”.
BJP’s Kerala unit president Ok Surendran mentioned the search on the Asianet News workplace was “an example of the fascist approach” of the state authorities in direction of the media.
(With company inputs)
