Chandigarh, Sep 5 (IANS) After two journalists were allegedly assaulted by the Delhi Police for raising questions during a recent event, attended by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Congress MP Manish Tewari on Saturday urged governments to be more tolerant while asking journalists to show increased responsibility.
Speaking to IANS in Chandigarh, Tewari said: “It is deeply unfortunate that governments are becoming increasingly intolerant. In Delhi, a journalist was treated brutally for asking questions, while in Sangrur, a retired officer was picked up from a park for a social media post. These are not good signs for democracy.”
“Therefore, on one hand governments need to be more tolerant, while on the other, journalists need to show more responsibility. This is because until this coordination comes into the place, the democracy won’t be strengthened,” the Congress leader said while emphasising that criticism is an important part of democracy,
While stressing that any kind of criticism should be based on facts, Manish Tewari also expressed caution over the use of “filthy language” on social media platforms.
“Today, the kind of abusive language people use on social media, it needs to be seriously discussed. It is not good for a democracy,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress MP also spoke about the “poor condition” of infrastructure during the Monsoon season.
“It is unfortunate that in Chandigarh, the roads get washed away whenever it rains. We call it a beautiful city, but just look at the condition of Chandigarh’s roads after a single spell of rain. The administration needs to take a serious view of this and about the kind of work undertaken by the contractors,” he said.
Noting that similar cases of waterlogging have been reported from several airports across the country, Tewari asked: “What kind of infrastructure are we building in the country that even portions of expressways sink during rainfall? In such a situation how is the country expected to develop?”
–IANS
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