After the end of 3-day ultimatum served by the Tripura Assembly of Journalists to the chief minister Biplab Kumar to withdraw his statement made against a section of media, Deb on Tuesday said that he did not threaten anyone in his speech at Sabroom. He maintained that his comment was meant to prevent people from being misled.
Deb was speaking with journalists of the Tripura Electronic Media Society this evening. He said that the role of the media is to highlight the mistakes of the government, but if they mislead people, it would not be acceptable.
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Biplab Kumar Deb received flak after he threatened what he termed, ‘some of the overexcited’ newspapers for allegedly creating confusion over the COVID-19 situation in the state. Deb was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the special economic zone (SEZ) at Sabroom on Friday when he said that some newspapers were trying to confuse people of Tripura and said he would not ‘forgive them’.
“This is a disaster; this is a crisis. It is not that everything done would be good during a crisis. I am responsible for every person of the state, irrespective of their post and profession. I have said that if people of Tripura are misled, then I would not forgive them as a guardian of the state”, Deb said.
He also said that his responsibility is to work for the welfare of the state irrespective of people’s political affiliation and beliefs.
The High Court took a suo-moto cognizance on the state’s present situation over the management based on the media reports published on local newspapers and served notice to the state government seeking their response in a week.
Responding to the notice of the High Court, Deb said that his government would place all the facts and figures in front of the Court and things would be made clear to the people.
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He also said that there is a need for self-introspection. And that people are aware of the facts and know who is responsible for what in the democracy. One has to know about his responsibility and work with an open mind.
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“I have told them (media) not to mislead the people. When people are misled, they do not visit hospitals out of fear. We have done an assessment and found that there are patients under home isolation in serious condition, but they neither visit the hospital nor inform doctors unless their health condition deteriorates”, Deb added.
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