The chief minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, on Wednesday strongly condemned the attack on media by political leaders while his home minister, Mr Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, made light of it, once again bringing the sharp differences in the CPI(M) to light.
The CPI(M) MLA, Mr P. Jayarajan, had manhandled a television reporter the other day after he raised the issue of a Marxist leader facing allegations of
sexual misconduct during a debate. “The attack on journalists is totally wrong and condemnable,” said the chief minister, reacting to the incident. “The government will take strong action in such cases.
Journalists have to be present in many sticky situations as part of newsgathering. They cannot be attacked.’
Interestingly, the chief minister also strongly criticised the attempt to spread falsehoods against mediapersons.
Mr Jayarajan had called up the reporter after beating him up and had lashed out at him for “taking money” from the Congress.
Taking a diametrically opposite stance, the home minister criticised the media for blowing up “minor issues” out of proportion. “The charge against Jayarajan is absurd,” he said in Thiruvananthapuram. “His hand was chopped to pieces and it was sutured back. How
can he use it to attack someone? It is silly. The fact remains that the media is against us.”
He added that he was not aware of the MLA threatening the journalist over telephone. The home minister also said that the allegation that the food minister, Mr C. Divakaran, slapped a voter was concocted. “Such false allegations will fly thick and fast as the elections come closer,” he added.
The CM had always ploughed a lone furrow vis-a-vis the press too and has never endorsed the CPI(M) official line of a “media syndicate” working against the party in Kerala.