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Journalists demand dismissal of Jayalalithaa Govt.

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR NOV. 8. A delegation of journalists met the Rajasthan Governor, Kailashpati Mishra, today and presented a memorandum to him addressed to the President of India seeking the dismissal of the Jayalalithaa Government in Tamil Nadu for its "outrageous'' act of reprisals against journalists.

The act of vindictiveness carried out by the Tamil Nadu Assembly issuing arrest warrants against six journalists, including the Editor, the Managing Editor and other senior journalists of The Hindu and Murasoli was at the behest of the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, the delegation led by the president of the Pink City Press Club, Satya Pareek charged.

The delegation included the general secretary of the Press Club, Rajesh Sharma, the president of the Rajasthan Working Journalists Union, Bhanwar Surana, the president of the Rajasthan Journalists Association, Anil Mathur, the president of the Rajasthan Media Women's Group, Sunita Chaturvedi and president of the Jaipur Photo Journalists Association, Rajiv Sungar.

"We are agitated as well as anguished over such attempts at intimidating the media and demand the dismissal of the Jayalalithaa Government for such a gross misconduct so that it can act as a deterrent to all those who try to stifle the democratic institutions and tend to get into periodical acts of intolerance,'' the memorandum addressed to the President said.

The Governor, Mr. Mishra accepting the memorandum reiterated his commitment to the freedom of the press and said he would pass it on to the President. "This one has crossed all limits,'' he said. The general secretary of the All India Medium and Small Newspapers Federation, B.M. Sharma, also condemned the action against the journalists.

The veteran Sarvodaya leader, Siddhraj Dhadda, expressed his anguish over the action and termed it as a "direct attack on the freedom of the press.''

Magsaysay award winner, Rajendra Singh, today termed the "confrontationist'' stand taken by the Tamil Nadu Assembly towards the media as "most unfortunate.'' "If the legislature does not give due regard to the fourth estate, what is the future of democracy in this country,'' Mr. Singh asked.

The former Speaker of the Rajasthan Assembly, Harishankar Bhabra, said the Tamil Nadu Assembly should re-consider its decision and withdraw the sentence against the media persons.

The Rajasthan unit of the CPI(M), the CPI, the CPI(ML) and the Rajasthan PUCL also condemned the Assembly sentence and the police action which followed it later during the day. "The Tamil Nadu Assembly the other day assaulted fearless and frank journalism using a brute majority. This deserves condemnation,'' said Prem Kishen Sharma, president of the PUCL.

"It is an accepted fact that The Hindu has set an example of fearless and fair journalism and ideological commitment. We are confident that the newspaper would emerge stronger from the latest challenge it is facing. The people of the country, the social activists and struggle movements are with The Hindu,'' he said in a statement here. "It was time for the country to review the special privileges enjoyed by the State Assemblies and Parliament", he added.

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