Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said here on Monday that a section of media was raising “non-issues” to further its vested interests. “Concocted stories in which the government has no role to play are being spread with ulterior motive,” she added.
In a comment posted on her Facebook page she said the sole purpose of a section of media was to “malign the present government” with “disinformation, misinformation and concocted stories.”
Ms. Banerjee alleged that the campaign was in collusion with political parties such as the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Referring to the controversy regarding not allowing the Bengali film Teen Kanya to be screened at a theatre owned by the Trinamool Congress-controlled Kolkata Municipal Corporation, she said: “It has been reported that the government has banned one particular film from public viewing.” Ms. Banerjee said that as indicated by the State’s Home Secretary earlier, her government never interfered in the matter.
The director of the film, Agnidev Chatterjee alleged that the authorities at the KMC-run theatre refused to screen the film despite an agreement, stating that its content was “anti-government.”
Pointing at the various cinema halls and multiplexes in the city where the film was being screened she asked: “If the government is determined to ban the film, how is it possible that is being shown at these places.”
Ms. Banerjee said that it was a “well- designed campaign against the government to embarrass and humiliate it” and appealed to the people not to trust and believe “such disinformation and misinformation campaign against the government without knowing its full details.”
Explaining the motive of the section of media to plant stories without any basis, she said the bold step of the Trinamool Ministers resigning from the Central government had “put some vested interests in an uncomfortable situation.”
Ms. Banerjee said the resignation of the Ministers was in protest against the decision of the UPA government to bring foreign direct investment in multibrand retail, pension and insurance sectors along with the rise in prices of fertilizers and diesel.
The decision was also taken to protest against restriction on the use of subsidised LPG cylinders and widespread corruption, she added.
