If Vice-President Hamid Ansari was attacked on Twitter for not attending the International Yoga Day celebrations by BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, the channel run by the Rajya Sabha secretariat was also attacked for its inadequate telecast of the event.
The attack on the micro-blogging site revealed how an attempt was made to draw attention to Mr. Ansari’s religion and criticise the channel of which he is the chairman. The telecast of Yoga Day on RSTV was in sharp contrast to other channels that had devoted a fair share of prime time space to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to mark the day along with 191 nations who dedicated themselves to good health. News and entertainment channels were specifically asked by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the Ministry of AYUSH to set aside time for special programmes on yoga.
Since its inception in 2011, the Rajya Sabha TV has carried itself much like the Upper House in Parliament — offering news that is balanced and objective. Its news content has come in for praise from a cross-section of society both from the viewer who looks for sobriety and low-decibel news and the panellists invited for the news and current affairs programmes.
Slowly, news started filtering about mismanagement in the television channel. Last year news reports surfaced about how Rs.1,700 crore was spent for the upkeep of the channel since 2011. This prompted 60 MPs from the Rajya Sabha to raise the issue of privilege of the House. The MPs pointed out that only Rs.140 crore had been spent so far.
Gurdeep Sappal, Joint Secretary and OSD to the Vice-President, said this was not the first time the channel has come under attack for its content. Reports in the past have questioned the relevance of the channel, the appointments and salaries paid to the staff. Sources in the channel said the ruling BJP party members had criticised the Rajya Sabha TV for its critical take on the policies of the government. “We are not the government’s channel and we are not obliged to be the mouthpiece of the government,” sources said.
