Assam Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah faces backlash for derogatory remark against journalist
Guwahati: The Media Association of Assam (MAA) and the Guwahati Press Club (GPC) have strongly condemned Assam’s Public Health Engineering Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah for his derogatory remarks against a journalist during a press conference in Guwahati on 27 June.
The minister, while responding to a question related to the Gir cow controversy, reportedly told a journalist from the Sadin-Pratidin group, “I will not speak to inferior people like you… I will answer when your owner asks me a question.”
The MAA has demanded an immediate apology from the minister, while the GPC, without naming Baruah, expressed serious concern over the increasing trend of politicians insulting journalists when asked critical questions. “A person has every right to not answer a journalist. But insulting them or their media house is undignified,” said GPC president Susmita Goswami.
In a joint statement, MAA president Hiren Chandra Kalita and secretary-general Chandra Kumar Shaikia expressed outrage and urged all journalists to boycott the minister until he issues a public apology.
The GPC reminded political leaders that if they are unwilling to be questioned, they should avoid holding press conferences and instead issue statements. It also reiterated that such behaviour will not deter journalists from carrying out their responsibilities. “The voice of a free press cannot be stifled,” it said.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
