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Horror show on TRP street by Sanjay K Jha

The Centre today took the extraordinary step of advising media to be “responsible” and not to “demonise” a different point of view, reflecting an assessment that the prevailing sense of drift was severely affecting legislative and administrative processes.

Three senior cabinet ministers — Salman Khurshid (law), Kapil Sibal (telecom) and Ambika Soni (information and broadcasting) — appealed to the media to put things in perspective instead of sensationalising every issue without cross-checking facts.

Soni talked of “self-regulation” and measures to extricate the electronic media from the “TRP horror” that often led to sensationalism.

“There is a disconnect between reality and hype. You tend to sensationalise things because of TRP (television rating point). We are also trying to provide relief to channels from TRP horror,” she said, probably hinting at the need to change the current rating system.

The media conference was held amid growing concern in the government that an atmosphere was being created to suggest that everything was rotten, which could irreparably damage parliamentary democracy and derail the growth process.

While Soni appealed to the media to crosscheck facts and not start a trial or instantly declare somebody guilty, Khurshid dwelt on the essence of democratic functioning where difference of opinion was not a crime.

“Difference of opinion is perfectly legitimate and that does not mean one side is right and the other side is totally wrong and should be demonised,” he said, without touching on Anna Hazare’s team burning Lokpal bill drafts and its threat to launch “the second freedom struggle” from August 16.

Khurshid continued: “An atmosphere is being created that if you don’t agree with somebody, you should be put in the dock. There are instances when high court verdicts are set aside by the Supreme Court. There are cases when judges differ on the same bench.

“We should understand this strengthens democracy, we should not do something for which we have to repent later. There is widespread concern not only in the government but among a cross-section of people that our parliamentary democracy is being challenged.”

He added: “We need the media’s co-operation, support and guidance to come out of this mess. We are not saying don’t attack us but be responsible.”

Soni, who claimed she was speaking with great anguish, said: “Many important people, including MPs, come to me with complaints that the media are not presenting the right facts and are sensationalising (them). Criticise us but on substantive grounds. Please crosscheck your facts as this will give a better scenario for all of us.”

She stressed this was not a warning and that the government would have said the same things in Parliament had it been allowed to function today.

Explaining why such an appeal was made, a senior minister told The Telegraph: “Industry leaders are repeatedly telling us if we would give a signal to move forward. A heavy legislative agenda that is vital to our future is pending. We have to move on.”

Another minister, exasperated with the disruption of Parliament today, said: “There are shockwaves in the stock market and the American financial crisis has caused deep worries for us. And we have shut down Parliament because a report has made a critical reference to a local government. We are so attuned to fights now that we can’t do constructive business.”

The Prime Minister, too, had expressed concern over this several times, most forcefully when the Opposition raised a storm over the WikiLeaks revelations.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had last week congratulated the Opposition for resolving not to paralyse Parliament. The session had then run smoothly, although the Congress and the BJP were accused of striking a deal. Mukherjee recalled how BJP veteran L.K. Advani rued there was too much confrontation and promised to allow the government to complete its legislative business.

But the new week has begun with a shutdown. The BJP has stalled both Houses demanding Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s resignation in connection with the CAG report on the Commonwealth Games.

Khurshid said at the news conference that everyone was free to make a demand and attack the government but no pre-condition could be set for running Parliament.

“The government has a right to respond, you cannot ask for somebody’s dismissal and paralyse Parliament. We are ready to be held accountable but let us follow procedure,” he said.

Soni, too, said the demand for summary dismissal of a chief minister was unjust and would not be accepted. Sibal said Dikshit had not been “indicted” and a “reference” to her role did not mean she should be hanged.

“There is a process. The CAG report is submitted to the public accounts committee, where the department concerned presents its views. Then the report goes to Parliament. How can we skip these processes?” he asked.

Questioned why A. Raja had quit on the basis of a CAG report, Sibal said: “That’s a different case and that does not become a constitutional precedent.”

The ministers said the CAG regularly made critical references to departments’ functioning and nobody resigned because of that. Citing several instances, including those from the NDA regime and BJP-ruled states, they said action would be taken in every case where there was evidence of wrongdoing.