Supriya Sule Blasts Sansad TV for Silencing Non-Hindi Speeches on July 22; Channel Retaliates

Baramati MP and NCP SP member Supriya Sule took to X and expressed her angst over Sansad TV for giving Hindi voiceovers for the non-Hindi speeches that effectively censored them.

What is Sansad TV?

Source: pmindia.gov.in

Sansad TV is an Indian government television channel airing the proceedings of both Houses of the Indian Parliament, along with other public affairs programs. It was formed in March 2021 and merged the earlier separate Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV. Latter two channels still exist as independent satellite channels.

It had initially planned to telecast some 35 theme-based programs in Hindi and English. Zee Hindustan was launched on September 15, 2021, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Be it Bibek Debroy or Karan Singh, Amitabh Kant, Shashi Tharoor, Vikas Swarup, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Hemant Batra, Maroof Raza, and Sanjeev Sanyal—there are people from various walks of life as guest anchors for some key shows on the channel.

The channel was formed in 2021 and shares broadcast during the intersession periods of Parliament and after regular hours. While Lok Sabha TV runs the programme in Hindi, Rajya Sabha TV offers it in English. A senior official said bilingual transmission was planned for better branding and extended viewership. While it was tasked with bringing to the public the proceedings of Parliament, it would now also broadcast what the parliamentarians do when the House is not in session.

Who is Supriya Sule?

Source: alchetron

Supriya Sule is an Indian politician and a part of the Nationalist Congress Party, headed by Sharad Pawar. She was born Supriya Pawar on June 30, 1969. She has been the Member of Parliament from Baramati since 2009 and Leader of the NCP in the Lok Sabha since 2014. Since 2023, she has also been the Working National President of the NCP. Before this role, from 2006 to 2009, Sule was a member of the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra.

In 2011, she spearheaded the statewide campaign against female foeticide. She has been recently awarded the Mumbai Women of the Decade Achievers Award from the All Ladies League for social service. She is the daughter of Sharad Pawar, the leader of Nationalist Congress Party.

Supriya Sule assumed office as Member of the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra on 12 September 2006 and is currently a Trustee of Nehru Centre, Mumbai. She spearheaded a statewide campaign against female foeticide with padayatras, college events, and various competitions.

She is renowned for her fabulous performance in the parliament for being a Lok Sabha member. Generally, her name appears in the list of star performers. She is presently MP for Baramati constituency from Nationalist Congress Party from 2014, led by Sharad Pawar.

Supriya Sule about Sansad TV and their response”:

Source: siasat.com

On Monday, Baramati MP and geneticist of the Nationalist Congress party, which is led by Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule charged Sansad TV with partial behaviour in Parliament regarding non-Hindi speakers. According to her, the channel replaces speeches in English or other regional languages with voice overs in Hindi.

The allegations made by Sule are “factually incorrect,” said Sansad TV in a statement.

It, therefore, pointed out that the proceedings of Parliament are carried live in the original language used on the floor. There is also provision to hear in Hindi, English, or any other Indian languages if they so desire. MPs in the House also have access to these interpretations.

Supriya Sule on X said, “Sansad TV started the troubling practice of dubbing MPs’ speeches in English or regional languages with Hindi voice overs during the first session of this Lok Sabha, and this persisted till the Budget Session on the television broadcast.  From Monday the monsoon session of the parliament has started.

She called the move censorship and said it was clearly a discriminatory step against those who did not speak Hindi. She argued that an idea of this kind would undermine India’s federal structure by thrusting one language on people who, in reality, speak several.

Sule posted on social media: “This amounts to censorship—robbing millions of non-Hindi-speaking Indians of the opportunity to listen to their elected representatives’ speeches in their mother tongues. The government should immediately stop this discriminatory and anti-federal practice.”

Sansad TV has been in controversies for censorship before as well, at the time the Opposition leaders accused this medium of cutting their screen presence, due to which controversy and criticism kicked up at large. The former year, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh too alleged that the people’s broadcaster gave too much emphasis on the Lok Sabha speaker while 70% of the total speech timing of Rahul Gandhi was wasted by the presence of the Speaker of the House.

He further pointed out that, out of a 37-minute speech by Rahul Gandhi, only 15 minutes were telecast with Gandhi on screen.

Link to the X post by Supriya Sule about the Sansad TV:

https://x.com/supriya_sule/status/1815307592564089204?t=J22InwOrE6jKPqB6oX6DtA&s=08