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It is a conspiracy: Bardhan

By Our Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE NOV. 9. The All-India general secretary of the CPI, A.B. Bardhan, today alleged a conspiracy behind the last-minute announcement in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on November 7 of the jail sentence to The Hindu's Editor, the Executive Editor, the Publisher, the Chief of Bureau and a Special Correspondent, and also the Editor of Murosoli, on charges of breach of privilege.

The fact that it was not listed on the agenda and was pronounced on the last day of the Assembly session only proved the intention of not providing any opportunity for other parties to react in the House or for those sentenced to seek any legal recourse.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Bardhan deplored the manner in which the police entered the office of The Hindu and also the houses of the Editor, the Executive Editor and the Chief of Bureau and conducted themselves. "The drama was enacted not only in the office and houses but also extra-territorially by intercepting the newspaper's Editor-in-Chief, N. Ram's vehicle in Bangalore yesterday."

The Tamil Nadu Government thought that the police could be sent anywhere to arrest people it wanted to put in jail. "Their (police) behaviour (in Bangalore) suggested as though they were going to abduct the persons they came in search of. It is an example of the police being made into an instrument by the AIADMK Government to carry out the orders of the political masters. That is not the job of the police."

"It is outrageous and I am surprised at the way The Hindu has been targeted. And along with it the Murasoli, for translating the English daily's editorial and publishing it." He said it was of grave concern that the 125-year-old national daily was singled out and the whole issue revealed witch-hunting on the part of the Government. The AIADMK Government has come out with the most outrageous punishment, he asserted.

Asked whether his party would take up with the Union Government the happenings in the State, he said, "Instead, I would like the people of Tamil Nadu to act against the Government. I am not convinced with the democratic credentials of the Centre either."

Later, ending the day-long fast today by the journalists to protest the Assembly action, Mr. Bardhan termed "cowardly and conspiratorial" the manner in which the entire exercise of handing the sentence was carried out.

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