CHENNAI: Barely a month after Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay declared that his government would not restrict live Assembly broadcasts as it would prevent people from hearing opposition voices, the live broadcast of the state Assembly proceedings was blacked out on Friday during the debate on the governor’s customary address, drawing criticism from opposition parties.
The live stream on the Tamil Nadu Assembly’s official YouTube channel ran for nearly four hours and 53 minutes. However, only the first hour and 27 minutes of the proceedings were broadcasted. For the remainder, viewers were shown a holding screen stating that the debate was under way.
While the discussion on the Mekedatu resolution was broadcast in full, the live feed stopped when the House took up the Motion of Thanks to the governor’s address, a debate where the opposition criticised the government.
The DMK and AIADMK came down heavily on the government for reneging on its promise. Criticising the move, the DMK’s IT wing alleged that the broadcast was halted ahead of opposition’s criticism of the government. In a social media post, it claimed opposition MLAs had raised questions on issues including the government’s election promises, law and order and incidents of sexual assault in the state, while accusing the CM and ministers of failing to respond to several of the points raised in the House.
Following the trust vote on May 13, Vijay had described the live broadcast of Assembly proceedings as a major democratic reform and asserted that his government would not allow viewers to see only praise for the ruling party while shielding criticism from public view, earning widespread praise. The move risks dampening the growing public interest in Assembly proceedings that Vijay’s entry into politics had helped generate, particularly among youngsters. Several TVK leaders have already taken credit for the ‘positive change’.
This comes days after Speaker J C D Prabhakar said the Assembly was examining how to deal with expunged remarks in a live broadcast environment. He had also indicated that the TVK government would, for now, follow broadcasting practices adopted during the previous DMK regime.
However, Parliament and several state legislatures continue to broadcast proceedings live despite concerns over expunged remarks. In such cases, objectionable comments are removed from official transcripts rather than entire debates being withheld from public view.