In an unsavoury incident, the staff of Mojo TV have intruded upon a peaceful protest by Sabarimala Parirakshana Samiti and made unwarranted and insensitive remarks at the members of Samiti. As the protest was taking place at the Indira Park, Hyderabad, today, journalists belonging to Mojo TV have made some insensitive comments, disruoting the protest for a while. Later, the organisers have registered a case against Mojo TV staff at the Gandhinagar police station.
On Wednesday, Sabarimala Parirakshana Samiti organised a peaceful protest “Maha Upavasa Deeksha”, against the Supreme Court order allowing women to enter the Kerala Sabarimala temple’s sanctum sanctorum.
The organisers invited media for coverage of the event. However, when the devotees participating in the protest objected to the presence of the journalists belonging to Mojo TV, as the channel had a record of biased and objectionable coverage in Kerala soon after the Supreme Court orders of allowing all age women into temple.
Keeping this in view, the organisers on the stage requested Mojo team to leave the premises and respect the sentiments of participating devotees. After 15 minutes, picking an argument with a person outside the premises, the Mojo team revisited the dharna site with a bigger crew size and started heckling devotees. This was strongly objected by fellow media men and police personnel who appealed them to not disturb the protest which was nothing but a peaceful protest against a just cause.
The organisers have reiterated that Ayyappa devotees’ righteous anger is only against the management of the Mojo TV and it has nothing to do working journalists who may be simply doing their job, toeing the management line.
Buchhi Reddy from Sabarimala Parirakshana Samiti said, “We are not against any mediapersons, but the deliberate attempt of Mojo TV management to target the sacred Sabarimala temple, Ayyappa devotees and heckling them at the dharna site is absolutely unwelcome.”
“Initially Mojo TV journalists left the venue after we made a peaceful appeal, but soon after, they returned with a bigger crew. This clearly shows malafide intention to disrupt the event,” he added.
