Assam CM Tarun Gogoi, soon to launch his own TV channel

Guwahati: Assam Chief minister Tarun Gogoi has gone the Mamata Banerjee way. The state government is soon going to launch its own television channel in order to throw positive focus on Assam as also to effectively counter news that create a hype around insurgency.

Gogoi’s decision to start a government TV channel also has reasons similar to that of his West Bengal counterpart — ‘the existing (private) television channels do not show the reality’. Last Friday when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Guwahati, the focus was more on a bandh called by the ULFA.

“The coverage that the TV news channels did of ULFA’s bandh last Friday was such that it created an impression among common people that Paresh Barua is all-in-all and that we have no control over the situation. It was exaggerated. The Prime Minister came, and all the programmes he attended passed off peacefully. The TV channels should have some credibility,” Gogoi said at a press conference here on Monday.

Lauding Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s decision to launch her government’s own TV channel, Gogoi said it was a good decision that she has taken. “I realise importance of a channel owned by the government. Yes, I am following Mamata Banerjee’s step, what is the harm?” asked Gogoi. “The TV channels in Assam and outside give undue publicity and mileage to insurgent groups when reality is that insurgency is now on the wane in the state. Such an attitude not only gives a negative projection of the state but also scares away potential investors,” he said.