The Hindu Business Line : <I>Lure of TV </I>

I was sorry to see my friend of 40 years' standing, Dr Subhash Kashyap, former Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha, undergo the mortification of being admonished by Parliament for making observations during an interview to a TV channel which were held by the Privileges Committee to have cast aspersions on the Speaker.

His remarks were with reference to the rejection by the Speaker of the notice of a motion given by Ms Mamta Banerjee on the ground that the subject matter had already come up in the same session and, therefore, under the Rules, could not be reopened. According to the Committee, although Dr Kashyap claimed in the TV interview that motions on the same subject had been taken up a number of times in the same session in the past, he could not place concrete instances before it.

The Committee took exception to his implying that the fact Ms Mamta Banerjee had once defeated Mr Somnath Chatterji in an election might have had something to do with the fate of her motion. Dr Kashyap's statement to the TV anchor on the so-called "the personal aspect" was certainly avoidable and it would have been befitting his credentials if he had tendered an unconditional apology.

While disinclining to do so when he appeared before the Committee, he seemed to have ascribed his remarks to his being "ill-prepared". Therein lies the rub. Nowadays, high functionaries, including Ministers, are only too readily accessible to TV channels, seemingly almost at their beck and call, little realising that any `ill-prepared' observation can result in further fouling up of the problems they are commenting on.

It behoves personages who are knowledgeable exponents on issues of public importance to keep their appearances on TV channels to the minimum. The medium is so powerful and the visuals get repeated so many times round the clock that the effect of any unguarded remark gets magnified manifold and becomes the source of untold havoc.

B. S. RAGHAVAN

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