The year was 1976. Prime Minister Chirac had come all the way from France to congratulate Mrs Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India at that time, for imposing Emergency on the country in 1975. At that time all the Fundamental Rights of Indians, guaranteed by the Constitution, were suspended. Then I was contributing to Organiser, the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS), mouthpiece and it was banned during the Emergency – along with RSS. I had no outlet left for my writings. My newspaper would return all my lengthy contributions, saying they did not match the paper's style. But it did publish paras.
Mr John Izbicki, Foreign Editor of TOPIC, London, had requested for my Government Accreditation as a correspondent in 1960s during China-India border conflict. But the Press Information Bureau (PIB) Information Officer, who interviewed me was more interested in my emoluments, than in giving me accreditation. But he was very kind in granting me the privilege of receiving Government handouts issued by PIB.
As I had nothing better to do, I would attend these PIB Press briefings during my night duties at the newspaper. Even if that burnt the hearts of my senior colleagues in the newspapers, who would have been more happy not to see me sharing their exalted company willy-nilly, I was happy to enjoy the hospitality of PIB, which then consisted of roasted monkey-nuts and coffee.
I went to attend the Chirac Press conference, holding the PIB invitation (handout) in my hand. As usual I found no hindrance and secured a comfortable seat at the venue. Suddenly, I was confronted by a group of gentlemen, who demanded to see my accreditation card, which I did not have. And the PIB staff among them knew I did not have it.
They were very insulting. One asked : “Where did you find this invitation (a cyclostyled piece of paper) ? Go away.” I said : “You sent it to me.”
I wrote a polite letter on January 24, 1976, to Dr A.R. Baji, Principal Information Officer, PIB : “I am writing this letter, I must make it clear at the outset, with a heavy heart and not with any rancour.
“The insult which I suffered today could have been avoided. I could have been told at the main gate of Vigyan Bhavan that I shall not be permitted at the Chirac Press conference without a Home Ministry Press card. I could have been checked at the main foyer, or at the entrance to Room 3, where the conference was to be held. None of this happened. Only when I had seated myself comfortably that the Security awoke to the lurking danger from me and I was told to get out – in a very decent way.
“But as I made it clear to you, I had, and have, no quarrel with the Security. My only regret is that the people who sent me the invitation would not uphold their decision.
“Having given the matter some thought, I have come to the conclusion that this is not proper time for me to attend PIB Press conferences. To remove all temptations to my journalistic instinct for these, I request to kindly take off my name from the PIB mailing list immediately. I am not that important to cause any flutter; and, anyway, one man here or there matters very little. A PIB cover is enclosed for your reference. Regards.”
Mr B.R. Bowry, D.P.R. (PR), vide his letter D.O.No.F.14013/1/76-PRS dated January 30, 1976, said : “I acknowledge your letter dated January 24, 1976, addressed to Dr A.R. Baji.
“I express my regrets about the incident which took place at the Press conference of the French Prime Minister at Vigyan Bhavan on 24th. But I wish to emphasize that my staff in no way intended to offend or insult you when they requested you to leave the Press conference which is open only to accredited correspondents. I have made inquiries and the error seems to have been made by one of the dealing clerks who failed to follow the instructions of the officer-in-charge that these invitations be issued only to accredited cameramen and correspondents. He is being severely reprimanded and I assure you that this mistake will not be repeated.
“As desired by you, I have issued instructions that your name be deleted from the mailing list for the present but it will be our pleasure to send you any material whenever you approach our office. Do let us know whenever we can be of any assistance. With regards”
I requested http://www.pib.nic.in to send Ministry news items to my web site : http://skumarmahajan.tripod.com/
about a year back. The news came, but so did trojans, etc., with some items !
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