The Delhi Legislative Assembly
New Delhi: The Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) has expressed strong disapproval regarding the recent actions of the newly inaugurated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Delhi, which sought to restrict access for specific reporters to the Assembly for coverage. On February 24, 2025, the first day of the new session, three journalists from ANI, ABP News, and PTI were stopped at the Assembly gates. The next day, five journalists from Times Now, Navbharat, News Nation, News18, Zee News, and Jantantra were also denied entry. After their colleagues raised concerns, some of these journalists were eventually allowed inside. The Speaker’s office later attributed the incident to a miscommunication.
The Delhi Union of Journalists asserted that a distinct pattern was “clearly visible” in this incident. Together with other journalist organizations, the DUJ has been urging the authorities to restore the system of journalist passes. “It appears that the Delhi government is mirroring the increasingly stringent tactics used in Parliament to limit media coverage,” the DUJ claimed. It urged the Delhi Assembly authorities to immediately issue regular passes for all eligible journalists to cover the Assembly proceedings, in the interests of transparency. After all, the nation wants to know.
“We have repeatedly protested the fact that the Parliament Secretariat now issues only temporary/ sessional passes even for veteran journalists as well as those who fall into the long and distinguished journalists category,” Sujata Madhok, S.K.Pande and A.M.Jigeesh, respectively the president, vice president and general secretary of the DUJ, stated in a press release.
The DUJ also condemned the central and state accreditation policies that it claimed are discriminatory in composition, favour certain journalists, are biased against independent journalists and even target select unions and associations. “These policies and practices should be reviewed,” it demanded.
– global bihari bureau
