Information and Broadcasting Minister Andaliv Rahman has called for a social boycott of intellectual fascism practitioners

He said, “We cannot do anything but socially condemn and boycott those media that support, promote, or practice fascism with intellectual or intellectual thoughts.”

He said this in response to the question of WSN24 editor in chief Khan Muhomod Zusfiqur Rohman in the weekly briefing organized on the progress of various activities of the government in the conference room of the Directorate of Information (PID) at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

At the beginning of the program, the Information Minister unveiled the book entitled ‘I have a plan: 6 months of democratic progress’ published by the Department of Information on the special achievements of the government in 6 months.

In response to a question about the independent role of the media, the information minister strongly criticized ‘intellectual fascism’ in the briefing.

He said, “If someone intellectually supports or promotes fascism, we have nothing else to do but condemn that thing socially.” Social boycott is the biggest punishment for those who do not believe in the spirit of free Bangladesh and new independent Bangladesh.

In response to another question regarding media freedom, Minister Andaliv Rahman said, ‘Believing in democracy is a matter of mindset. The mentality we have seen in the last 17 years is to take a stand against criticism.

But the current government or the Prime Minister has no intention of stopping the freedom of the media or controlling the media.

Highlighting the institutional system of the previous regime, he further said, ‘In the last 17 years, all the systems of the country were corrupt. After such a fragile situation, the government is going through one of the most difficult times in the history of the country. In this situation, we expect objective criticism from you, so that we can correct the mistakes and move forward in the right direction.

In response to a journalist’s question about Sheikh Hasina, Information Minister Andaliv Rahman said that she is currently staying in India. According to Indian media reports, efforts are being made to settle the matter through the court or judicial process (judiciary). However, the Bangladesh government’s clear demand is that all those who have cases against them should be brought back for the sake of proper trial of all the crimes of the past including the July movement.

Besides, in response to a question about stopping the fake circulation numbers of newspapers, the minister said that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has started working vigorously to stop the false process of showing millions of circulation by printing less newspapers.

In the briefing, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Yaser Khan Chowdhury mentioned the freedom of the media and said, ‘I have said in the past that everyone has the freedom to speak against the government. Democracy is about raising the voice of the people whether against the government or for it. BTV and government media have been instructed to broadcast the news of the opposition parties at a proportional rate from now on.

He also said that an application has been made to the Ministry of Finance to double the grant of trust fund for the welfare of journalists. One crore taka has already been handed over for sick and indigent journalists.

Information and Broadcasting Secretary Mahbooba Farzana and Chief Information Officer of Directorate of Information Syed Abdal Ahmad were present in the briefing.

SOURCE: WSN24 AND NEWS AGENCIES