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Journalists protest attacks in West Bengal

Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta

It was a rally with a difference. Over 25,000 journalists from both the print and electronic media held a meeting at Calcutta's Press Club and staged a rally to Raj Bhavan Tuesday afternoon to protest the recent attacks on scribes in West Bengal.

The rally ended after memoranda were handed over to Governor Viren J Shah and Deputy Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.

Journalists from all across the state took part in the rally and demanded stern action against the culprits responsible for the attacks. The editors of a few Bengali dailies also participated.

Addressing the gathering, Ashok Dasgupta, editor of Bengali daily Aaj Kal, said it was time journalists were united in their pursuit of terror-free and objective journalism.

"We should remember that ours is not a political fight. What we should do is constitute a fact-finding team every time there is an attack on mediapersons. The reports of these teams should then be carried in all newspapers and TV channels to prompt the powers that be to punish the culprits," Dasgupta said.

Barun Sengupta, editor of another premier Bengali daily, Bartaman, felt that such attacks were expected. According to him, whenever the party in power feels threatened, they resort to terror tactics.

However, the meeting was marred by internal feuds. For example, when Dasgupta took the microphone, many journalists protested, accusing him and his paper of being stooges of the ruling Left Front.

Many journalists have been assaulted in recent past. While some members of a coordination committee in Writers' Building attacked a group of reporters and photographers in the state secretariat on August 9, some suspected Communist Party of India-Marxist activists mercilessly beat up journalists covering the Uttarpara municipal polls on August 13.

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