The Sikh Times !
New Delhi 12 March : A serious allegation regarding the alleged News blackout of the oath ceremony of Delhi’s newly appointed Lieutenant Governor, Sardar Taranjit Singh Sandhu, has been raised in a letter addressed to Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
In the letter, Gurcharan Singh Babbar, Editor-in-Chief of Qaumi Patrika National Daily Newspaper, has claimed that the print media and electronic media of Delhi completely blacked out the oath ceremony of the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Sardar Taranjit Singh Sandhu Jee, which took place yesterday at Raj Nivas in Delhi. According to him, today’s print media did not consider it appropriate to publish this historic event on the front pages of national newspapers, raising questions about under whose direction such a situation occurred.
In his communication, Babbar has stated that this responsibility belonged to the Information and Public Relations Ministry of Delhi, which functions under the Chief Minister of Delhi, Smt. Rekha Gupta. Under this ministry works the Director of Information and Publicity. He alleged that the Director of this department hates Sikhs and claimed that he can prove it.
The letter further mentions that he has already sent hundreds of letters to the Chief Minister of Delhi regarding this matter and that almost every day he sends complaint letters to the Chief Minister.
Babbar wrote that the situation crossed all limits when the new Lieutenant Governor of Delhi took oath but the news of his oath ceremony did not run on national TV channels and the photographs of the Governor were not published on the front pages of Delhi newspapers.
He further wrote that, on the other hand, the news of Delhi Chief Minister Smt. Rekha Gupta appears daily in national newspapers of Delhi and that she even gets advertisements prepared for her own news and publishes her photographs in newspapers. According to him, this work is done by the Director of Information and Publicity, that is the DIP (Shabdarth) Director of Delhi.
In the letter it is stated that none of the national daily newspapers in Delhi published the news of the new Lieutenant Governor on their front pages, which he described as an example of hatred and racial discrimination because Delhi now has a Sikh Lieutenant Governor.
He also wrote that this is the first time such an incident has happened and that whenever a new Lieutenant Governor of Delhi took oath in the past, all national daily newspapers prominently published the news of the oath ceremony on their front pages. He further stated that electronic media, including national TV channels, also broadcast the Raj Nivas ceremony widely and prominently.
The letter also mentions that Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Honorable Home Minister Shri Amit Shah honored the entire Sikh community by appointing a Sikh Sardar as the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. It further states that not only Sikhs in Delhi but Sikhs across the world are happy that Shri Narendra Modi appointed a Sikh as the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.
However, the letter alleges that the Chief Minister of Delhi, under whose control lies the Information and Public Relations Ministry and the Director of Information and Publicity who works closely with her, ensured that the news of a Sikh Governor was blacked out.
The letter further states that when Smt. Rekha Gupta became the Chief Minister of Delhi, she started promoting herself extensively and installed large hoardings across the streets of Delhi, gave advertisements on TV channels, placed advertisements inside the Delhi Metro, and on bus stands across Delhi, while other ministers of the Delhi Government and senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party Delhi unit were rarely seen in the media.
Babbar alleged in the letter that by blacking out the news of the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Smt. Rekha Gupta deliberately insulted the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi as part of a well-planned conspiracy and claimed that she does not want to see anyone above her in Delhi.
The letter has been sent to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi with copies marked to several senior leaders and authorities including Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, BJP National President, Union Minister Shri Jagat Prasad Nadda, Lieutenant Governor Sardar Taranjit Singh Sandhu, BJP Delhi President, Members of Parliament, Delhi Cabinet Ministers, MLAs, the Chief Secretary of Delhi, and the Police Commissioner of Delhi.
The matter has now sparked discussion in political and media circles regarding the alleged lack of coverage of the oath ceremony of the new Lieutenant Governor of the national capital.