Dainik Bhaskar faces Governor's ire

NK SINGH

There are various ways to bring the press to heel. Madhya Pradesh Governor M.S. Qureshi made the state Government stop giving its advertisements last month to the Bhaskar group, the largest-selling newspaper chain in the state. 

There is no formal order to that effect, but payments totalling Rs.8 lakh for the advertisements published in the group's nine newspapers have also been withheld. Their crime? They carried two news items that did not show the Governor and one of his advisers A.K. Pandya in a good light. 

The Government action also includes stopping advertisements to Bhaskar's English daily National Mail, which had not even carried the reports. Says Alim Bazmi, convenor of the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Indian Journalists Union: "It is probably the first time in the state that the Government has totally stopped advertisements to a newspaper." 

Ironically enough, Dainik Bhaskar, which has rapidly grown during the last decade, usually toes the government line. The trick till now to force newspapers to behave was to reduce the advertisements and then claim that it was the Government's prerogative.

Four months ago, soon after Qureshi took over as the Governor, the Hindi editions of Dainik Bhaskar had carried a story about a cooperative department officer who got an extension in service through a fax message sent by the Governor. 

Irresponsible reporting 

What upset Qureshi was the unsubstantiated part of the story that he had sent the message after receiving a phone call from his relative in Pakistan. The Hindi editions later expressed their regrets. But that did not mollify Qureshi. 

Another controversy contributing to the decision against Bhaskar was a report describing how Pandya had gone on an official trip to Indore to coincide with his wife's participation in a bonsai show. 

Pandya reportedly approached Qureshi, for filing a case with the Press Council, though he told INDIA TODAY: "I don't know anything about it." 

Although the Government advertisements, worth about Rs.5 lakh per month, account for only 10 per cent of the group's - which has the largest number of editions in the state - total advertising revenue, the issue is not just a financial one.

Says Ramesh Agarwal, the group's proprietor: "The real issue is whether the Government can stop advertisements of a newspaper just because it is displeased with its writings." He is planning to take legal action against the decision. 

Dainik Bhaskar has launched a tirade against the Governor, sometimes blowing the most frivolous issues out of proportion. Last fortnight, for instance, it reported that former Union minister Girija Vyas could not meet the Governor because of the alleged misbehaviour of Raj Bhavan officials. 

Politically, the withholding of advertisements seems to be an ill-advised move with elections scheduled on November 24 and 27. Just when the politicians are trying to win over the press, the piqued Governor is making the mistake of brandishing a sword even though he knows the Bhaskar group is retaliating just as effectively with its pen.

India Today, 31 October 1993

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