The Press Club of India (PCI) has expressed shock and condemned the recent attack on the office of Assamese daily Asorniya Pratidin. “What is noteworthy is that the vandalisation, carried out on April 10 night by unidentified persons at the newspaper’s Lakhimpur office, occurred just hours after the state Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made public remarks against the Pratidin media group along with an Assamese news channel, DY365,” a statement from PCI said. “PCI is highly concerned about the shrinking space for journalism in the northeastern state, particularly during the run-up to the just-concluded assembly elections within which the April 10 attack on Asomiya Pratidin happened. It also includes burning of hundreds of copies of the newspaper in Upper Assam by unidentified forces close to the April 9 voting day,” it stated.
The statement further said that during the election campaign, the Chief Minister was seen on many occasions verbally attacking reporters from various media organizations both within and outside the state for posing him questions, a right the media holds in a democracy. The PCI reminded the Chief Minister that he holds a Constitutional position and is answerable to the press in the interest of citizens, however uncomfortable the questions may be.
“Questioning the government of the day or a political leader in public interest is journalism. PCI urges the state authorities to conduct an impartial and swift inquiry — at the earliest — into these attacks which are directly linked to press freedom, and freedom of expression, a right granted to every citizen by the Constitution,” it said, demanding that the authorities must ensure that those responsible for these cowardly attacks are identified and brought In justice.