Shinde backtracks on ‘crush electronic media’ comment

Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Sunday targeted the electronic media for what he called a sustained vilification campaign against the Congress. Addressing a party rally in his home town of Solapur in Maharashtra, he went so far as to say that such media should be ''crushed''.

On Monday Shinde was quick to backtrack, saying he had referred to the social media and not journalism in his comments.

"I was referring to the social media and the violence incited against students from the northeast in Hyderabad and Karnataka. My comments were not about journalism," Shinde told various sections of the media.

The home minister had also said in Solapur that there were efforts by the media to provoke the Congress party.

"The media has opened a front in the past three to four months. We will crush such elements in the electronic media, which are indulging in false propaganda," Shinde had said.

"I have the intelligence department under me. I know who is doing such things."

Shinde's remarks follow a series of opinion polls in the national and regional media, conducted by private agencies, which have predicted a drubbing for the Congress while forecasting an impressive tally for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Shinde, who is keen to contest the elections from Solapur again, had said the people of India would never forgive those dividing the nation.

"The media should focus on positive stories, which will be welcomed by the people. The people of the country will not accept those dividing the country by disturbing society."

The home minister's remarks were promptly condemned by the Action Committee against Attacks on Journalists.

Shinde's attack against electronic media came even as the Editors Guild of India on Monday objected to "unsubstantiated charges" levelled by public figures dissatisfied with the coverage of their activities or with criticism.

A month ago, Shinde was locked in an unexpected row following his statement that he would have been happy to see union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, the Maharashtra strongman and chief of the Nationalist Congress Party, as the prime minister.

His statement caused a flutter in political circles in New Delhi, since on the same day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had declared that he would be happy to see Rahul Gandhi as his successor.