The Tripura government on Monday night stopped the publication of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) mouthpiece, Daily Desher Katha for alleged violation of relevant rules and clearances in publishing.
District magistrate Sandeep Namdeo Mahatme, at around 11.30 pm on October 1, served a notice to the daily authorities asking them to not publish the next day’s edition. Work was on in full swing at the time, but the October 2 edition could not be published due to the order.
The CPI(M) authorities in Tripura have said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had taken this step for political reasons and that they will move Supreme Court on Wednesday.
A complaint – by Agartala based Shyamal Debnath – was lodged against Daily Desher Katha for alleged violations of the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867, in August. Following the complaint, the district magistrate had called the CPI(M) authorities for a hearing.
When the Bengali language daily was opened on August 15, 1979, it was “owned” by the CPI(M). Its first editor was Gautam Das, now a CPI(M) central committee member. In 2012, the ownership was changed and a society was formed and given charge of running the daily. Das continued to be the editor. In 2015, the ownership went to a trust and Samir Paul became the new editor.
Among other things, the complaint included allegations of a mismatch with the information on the editor, printer and publisher as reflected in the daily and what was shown/maintained with in the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI).
Party sources claimed that the RNI was informed about every change, but the RNI website did not reflect it. This could not be confirmed with the RNI though.
The party mouthpiece sources said that on October 1, they learned that the “main” problem was regarding the ownership changes – from being owned directly by the CPI(M) to being managed by a society and now functioning under a trust – and that an earlier clearance had been withdrawn/cancelled.
At around 11.30 pm, there was a communication from the office of the district magistrate asking the daily to keep its publication on hold.
The CPI(M) authorities said that they have been publishing news fearlessly and that’s the reason for this sort of an attack, and there’s every attempt to scuttle independence and opinion in Tripura that went against the government.
BJP spokesperson Mrinal Kanti Deb was not available for comment but he had said earlier that “The CPI(M) and its mouthpiece have both cheated the people and the truth should come out.”
