Media sings CM praise, LF smells foul

SANTANU BANERJEE

KOLKATA, JANUARY 18: The Left Front Coordination Committee in an internal report has warned the CPI(M)-led government in West Bengal about the ‘‘media’s hidden agenda to sabotage the state administration.’’

Urging the Left Front government not to get swayed by the hype and hoopla created by the media, the Coordination Committee, a CPI(M)-affiliated employees’ association, said: ‘‘The media, which has always played the role of an opposition, ‘has a hidden agenda to push people’s aspirations to such an unrealistic high that if it’s not fulfilled, it would only get the sixth LF government branded as a failure and leave the people frustrated’’’.

The tirade against the ‘‘dubious role’’ of the press also cautioned the ministers and leaders of the LF government that the media had taken up an even more ‘‘conspiratorial’’ role by trying hard to prove that ‘‘this LF government is a friend and supporter of the economic liberalisation, which the state government actually opposes.’’

In a hint to ‘‘media-friendly’’ Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, whom the Committee leaders opposed and criticised on several occasions after his government came to power, the report said: ‘‘The government should take accolades showered by media thus with a pinch of salt as this hidden agenda has been their long-term plan.’’

The ministers have to be more careful so as not to play into their hands, the report said, cautioning dissenting ministers of other Left parties in the Front.

It reminded the government of the role played by the media which ‘‘during pre-election days took the battle for the Opposition and tried its best to bring the Trinamool-Congress combine into power. In pre-poll surveys the press even predicted the defeat of the Front.’’

Besides the media, the other villain named by the Committee is the bureaucrats, who the report said ‘‘are also responsible for creating confusion owing to their actions.’’

The Committee has reportedly been always critical of the role of the press, which it has allegedly termed ‘‘conspirator’’. The report said: ‘‘The press is trying to create an impression that nothing had been done in the past 25 years.’’

The report, which was circulated among select delegates at its state conference in Malda last month, did not spare the government either, saying while ‘‘the government hasn’t yet implemented fully the Pay Commission report for the workers, the officers are getting benefits from the government.’’