The West Bengal Chief Minister defended the decision saying it was a prerogative of the government.
Faced with criticism over transfer of senior IPS officer Damayanti Sen, who had differed with Mamata Banerjee on the genuineness of the Park Street rape case, the West Bengal Chief Minister today defended the decision saying it was a prerogative of the government.
Banerjee, without referring to the transfer of Sen, the former Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), said "it is the prerogative of my government to get the job done by someone who can perform in a better way."
Pointing out that it was the management of media houses which decided who would be editor and other staff, Banerjee alleged a section of the media and television news channels were making personal attacks on her and trying to malign her government.
"This is yellow journalism. The manner in which personal attacks are being made is a conspiracy and a planted game.
"Those who are engaged in this planted game, how can they claim that they are impartial? Just as I cannot impose or bulldoze, you cannot impose or bulldoze," she said at the launch of Kalom, a Bengali daily.
Banerjee said "one can disagree with my policies. The freedom of the press has a broad meaning. The deliberate misuse of the pen can be dangerous for society.
"If self-interest is not served, one will resort to lies. This is not the freedom of the press," she said.
Banerjee said the media should have a Lakshman Rekha. "If one attacks me I will fight back. I am prepared to accept constructive criticism of my government's policies and of me. But if anyone tries to blackmail me, I will not bow my head. I cannot be controlled."
She said that to boost TRP, a section of television news channels were running "breaking news where truth sometimes became a casualty".
"When my mother was in hospital, one of them came out with breaking news saying my mother has died before her death," she said.
The chief minister, who received flak for the government restricting subscription of dailies of state-run and aided libraries, took umbrage that it was described as a 'fatwa' and 'censorship'.
"If you say this now, what will you say later on? They will dictate what the people want. This cannot be accepted," she said.
"What has happened now that there should be so much fuss? Why were they silent during the 34 years of Left Front misrule in West Bengal?" she said.
The chief minister said she would not allow party dailies like CPI(M) mouthpiece Ganashakti to receive government patronage in the form of advertisments. "I did not give a single government advertisement to my party paper Jago Bangla now nor when I was Railway Minister for two years."
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