Will never forgive Sadhvi Pragya for insulting Gandhi: PM Modi
Khargone: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday said he will never forgive BJP candidate Pragya Singh Thakur for insulting Mahatma Gandhi by calling his assassin Nathuram Godse a true patriot.
Modi told a TV channel during his last rally here ahead of the last phase of voting in the Lok Sabha polls, Modi also said her comments were detrimental to society.
"The remarks made about Gandhiji or Nathuram Godse are very bad and very wrong for society," he said. "She has sought an apology but I would never be able to forgive her fully," he added.
Earlier Friday, BJP president Amit Shah said remarks on Mahatma Gandhis assassin by three BJP leaders Thakur, Union Minister Anantkumar Hegde and Karnataka MP Nalin Kumar Kateel were not in line with the partys ideology.
Shah had said the partys disciplinary committee has sought an explanation from them in 10 days.
During a roadshow in Madhya Pradeshs Agar town, Thakur had said, Nathuram Godseji deshbhakt the, hai, aur rahenge unko aatankwadi kahne wale log swayam ki gireban me jhaank kar dekhe chunav mein aise logon ko jawab de diya jayega (Nathuram Godse was a patriot, is a patriot, and will remain a patriot those who call him a terrorist should look within they will get a reply in this election).
She was responding to a comment made by actor-turned- politician Kaman Haasan, who said Godse was the first Hindu terrorist in independent India.
The Malegaon blast accused later apologised for her statement.
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Union government assumes full control over TV ratings, TRAI role curtailed: Report
New Delhi: The Union government has assumed full control over television audience measurement, removing the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from oversight of the ratings system that underpins the country’s ₹36,000 crore television advertising market, according to a report published on Wednesday.
The report in Mint said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) now has exclusive authority over the framework governing how television ratings are measured and regulated. TRAI had been entrusted with oversight of TV ratings in 2012 during the UPA government’s tenure. TRAI is no longer mentioned in the relevant policy document, effectively vesting sole authority in the MIB.
The report said TRAI will continue to regulate other aspects of broadcasting, including channel pricing, advertising caps, interconnection and distribution norms, service quality and compliance standards. Its role in determining how ratings agencies track viewing behaviour has been withdrawn.
Television Rating Points (TRPs), which reflect viewership patterns, guide advertisers in deciding where to allocate spending across channels and time slots.
A government source quoted in the report said the ministry could modify TRAI’s decisions even when the regulator oversaw broadcasting.
A former CEO of Prasar Bharati told the newspaper that the MIB has historically regulated rating agencies through licensing and guidelines, and by holding them accountable under existing norms.
During its tenure overseeing ratings, TRAI had taken decisions affecting the broadcast sector, which included capping advertising time at 12 minutes per hour following complaints about excessive commercial breaks and it now remains unclear how these matters will be addressed under the revised arrangement.
Satya N. Gupta, former principal advisor at TRAI, was quoted as saying that merging regulatory functions with policy oversight and removing an independent regulator from the process was a retrograde step.
TRAI’s involvement in broadcasting had earlier attracted criticism as well. In 2012, its consultation paper on quantitative limits on television advertising was viewed by some as overlapping with the Advertising Standards Council of India’s code. Subsequent recommendations covering television audience measurement, ownership of news channels and issues such as paid news had also raised concerns among sections of the industry.
Television ratings have faced scrutiny in recent years, including during the controversy involving the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), where officials of the ratings body were prosecuted over allegations of manipulation of viewership data.
