A group of journalists will hold a protest march on Thursday from the Delhi Press Club to the Parliament building to protest against restrictions on access to Parliament during the winter session, The Telegraph reported.
The Center had restricted media entry to Parliament in early 2020 since the Covid-19 outbreak. Journalists cannot access the media galleries of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Central Hall.
For two days a week, journalists are allowed to be on Parliament premises, but they do not have access to the debates.
On November 27, a group of journalists wrote an open letter to the leaders of all political parties in Parliament, protesting against restrictions on media access to Parliament. The letter said there was no need for such curbs now, adding that public places such as malls, restaurants and movie theaters had been reopened.
The letter said that the Lok Sabha chairman, at a press conference in July, said that no restrictions would be imposed on the entry of media.
“We fear that there is a depressing tendency to isolate parliament and parliamentarians from the gaze of the media,” the letter said, adding that this tendency bodes ill for parliamentary democracy.
अपीलहमीी के केलल कोवए ोवोवोवड पहले ीीी होवल हॹबब@rashtrapatibhvn @PMOIndia @loksabhaspeaker @IndEditorsGuild @PressCouncil_IN pic.twitter.com/Yepr3T6NHh
— Press Club of India (@PCITweets) November 29, 2021
Umakant Lakhera, president of the Press Club of India and one of the signatories of the letter, said The Telegraph that the restrictions look like a design to keep the media away from Parliament.
“We can understand the restrictions for quite some time as the Covid threat was messing everything up,” Lakhera said. “But now you can see people jostling in markets and on public transport. Shopping centers are open. But the entrance of the media [into Parliament] is severely limited.
Lakhera said journalists cannot see the proceedings and cannot meet members of parliament.
Tuesday, the India Press Club also opposed what he described as a “lottery system” allowing journalists to enter the premises of Parliament.
“It appears to be a ploy to censor the transmission of news and information to people,” he said. “This is a very dangerous trend in a parliamentary democracy like India.”
The opposition also criticized the central government’s decision not to lift restrictions on media access to parliament.
Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote a letter to the President of the Lok Sabha on November 28, asking that journalists be allowed access to the press galleries of Parliament. He said the current restrictions are against the spirit of parliamentary democracy.
“I fear there is a dangerous tendency to insulate parliament and parliamentarians from media scrutiny,” Chowdhury said.
