Goa’s media fraternity is split over supporting journalist Harish Volvoikar, who was barred from entering the state Assembly on Monday, and later questioned by the police in connection with a report he had published on Saturday about Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s health. The report was later withdrawn.
Volvoikar, who runs a website called Goajunction as well as a news message service on WhatsApp, was not allowed to enter the Assembly on Tuesday either. The Budget Session of the state Assembly started on Monday.
Parrikar, who fell ill on February 15, is being treated at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital. Several media reports have claimed that he has pancreatitis.
Office-bearers of the Goa Union of Journalists said they were trying to resolve the issue with the Speaker’s office. “They have raised an issue about his ID card,” said the union’s president, Kishore Naik Gaonkar. “An agitation can be our last action after other methods fail.”
Some reporters felt that “there should have been a greater resistance from journalists to this excessive show of power”. Journalist Mayabhushan Nagvekar resigned from the Union, saying that he was dismayed that it had “compromised and is silent on issues related to arbitrary targeting of a journalist by political appointees” and “issues related to right of access of a journalist to a constitutional office”.
‘False news’ complaint
Volvoikar has been accused of publishing a false news report on Parrikar’s health. The BJP had issued a rebuttal of his report on Saturday itself. On Monday, a complaint was lodged at the Ponda police station about “false news” related to Parrikar’s health.
The Goa Speaker convened a special meeting of the Press Advisory Committee on Tuesday morning. A press note issued by Atmaram Barve, the personal secretary to the Speaker, said Volvoikar did not possess a valid ID card and hence was being disallowed from attending the current Assembly session.
While Volvoikar received support from sections of the national media, the divide was clear among reporters covering the political beat in the state capital. One section of the media were openly discrediting Volvoikar. But others backed him. “I think the way he was denied entry on the first day [of the Budget session] without a written reason was not fair,” said reporter Tejashree Kumbhar. “It goes against democracy according to me.”
Journalists in the state has never been this divided, with older members of the fraternity referring to an “embedded” media. Last year, the Goa Union of Journalists had officially complained that only select groups of reporters were being notified for government press conferences. The Goa government has been steadily clamping down on media access in the state. In May, it had sought to impose restrictions on media entry into the ministerial block at the secretariat.
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