A highly venerated former editor of a Malayalam newspaper, who has been a known critic of Sangh Parivar and the BJP has waxed eloquent on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
P Rajan, the octogenarian journalist and former editor of Mathrubhumi has said that the last nine years of Modi rule has been far better than any other governments which had ruled the country since independence.
“Even if someone complains that the reigning government has close affinity with Hindutva, there is nothing abnormal in it. It is quite natural for the Government at Centre to have its mirror image. This government will have same image as that of Hindutva,” Rajan told C K Anandan Pillai, chief editor, Sahitya Vimarsam, a widely respected literary journal in Malayalam language.
Rajan termed the allegations made by some section that the media is under censorship as hogwash. “During the Internal Emergency of 1975-77, the then Government had annulled and cancelled the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. Since those opposing Modi do not have anything to point out against hem, they allege that there is an undeclared emergency in the country. This allegation is also non-sense. The media is publishing charges and allegations against the government without any fear,” said Rajan, who was the first journalist in the State to be arrested for criticizing Indira Gandhi when she declared the internal emergency.