Staff Correspondent

BNP Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Sunday said policymakers in India are using the media like a “stick” to suppress people and control their minds through various propaganda mechanisms.

“Look at neighbouring India. A term called ‘Godi media’ has emerged. Policymakers of India are using media exactly like a stick to suppress people permanently” he said.

Rizvi made the remarks as the chief guest at a discussion organised by the Press Institute Bangladesh (PIB) and Journalist Abdus Salam Smriti Sangsad at the PIB auditorium in the evening, marking the 116th birth anniversary of journalist Abdus Salam, founder of PIB and The Bangladesh Observer.

Rizvi referred to an observation by renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky that while sticks and force are essential tools for authoritarian regimes to suppress people, those with authoritarian characteristics within democratic states control the media in a similar manner.

In a country where intellectuals were once generally associated with secularism and independent thinking, that tradition has weakened, with much of the media now perceived as being aligned with the ruling side, Rizvi said referring to India.

“They are loyal to the rulers, and it has been done in such a way that they cannot get out of it,” he said.

“Policymakers of India are using them exactly like a stick to suppress people permanently,” Rizvi said, adding that the stick is not visible there, but various propaganda mechanisms are being used to influence and control people’s minds.

“We are now seeing the terrible consequences of this in India,” he said.

Referring to renowned journalist Abdus Salam, Rizvi said people who genuinely believe in freedom, including human and civil liberties, are persecuted under every regime.

Recalling Abdus Salam’s career, Rizvi said he remained committed to freedom and his professional duties despite facing repeated attacks on humanity and other challenges.

He said journalists in the past operated in a genuinely autonomous and independent manner, publishing and reporting what was true and objective.

“They did not bow down or sell themselves to money, threats or power,” Rizvi said, describing Abdus Salam as a symbol of such independent journalism.

Rizvi said Abdus Salam’s ideals are needed not only in Bangladesh but across the world.

“If people rise again, if people once again awaken to their words, then there will be no more wars, conflicts and bombings from country to country, and no more dropping of bombs,” Rizvi said.

“Truth will be illuminated and falsehood will be removed,” he added.

The discussion was chaired by PIB Director General Faruk Wasif.

Prime Minister's Information Adviser Dr Zahed Ur Rahman, Dhaka South City Corporation Administrator Abdus Salam, among others, attended the event as special guests.