The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) has condemned the attempts of two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders to bribe journalists for favourable poll coverage in Leh.
Saluting the journalists for upholding the best tradition ofjournalism and integrity, the IJU has urged the District Electoral Officer,Avny Lavasa, to take strict action as per the law against the two leaders, whofollowing an inquiry have been found guilty and the police have been asked toregister a FIR against them.
The IJU president and Press Council member Amar Devulapalliand secretary general and IFJ vice-president, Sabina Inderjit expressedsolidarity with its affiliate Ladakh Journalists Union, the Press Club Leh fortheir exemplary action and pursuing the matter since 2 May.
It may be recalled that after the BJP state unit PresidentRavindra Raina addressed a press conference in Leh last week, his colleague andMLC, Vikram Randhawa started distributing envelopes to journalists.
Shocked to see Rs 500 notes in these envelopes, thejournalists felt insulted at BJP’s audacity to bribe them and returned theenvelopes outright. The next day, seven journalists, including presidents ofPress Club Leh and Ladhakh Journalists Union, Morup Stanzin and Rinchen Angmorespectively, approached police station Leh and filed a complaint.
As the incident snowballed into a major controversy the DEOheld an inquiry by examining the CCTV coverage of the press conference. In themeantime, Raina issued a statement on 5 May alleging that the Press Club Lehwas spreading “false propaganda” against him and his party and it was”politically motivated”. He sought a “written apology within 48 hours” or elsethreatened to file “a defamation case” against it.
The IJU said, the BJP leaders’ have had to eat their ownwords as the inquiry has revealed that they tried to bribe the journalists,which is a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct.The IJU said that it is committed to extend allsupport to the scribes in Leh to take this case to its logical conclusion andensure that such brazen attempts to influence the media by the BJP are exposed.