People in India read only negative news: Kapil Sibal

, Feb 21: The government will have to take other routes to reach out to the people if the

is interested only in focusing on "negative news", Union minister

said on Wednesday.

"You (media) don't take a lot of things to the people. We are trying that through this effort (interactive session)... because if intellectuals are together here, then they will take back with them the message that what the Congress party is doing on the ground, our policies and our thought. Often, people in India read only negative news but today we are talking of positive aspects," Sibal told reporters in New Delhi.

The minister said this after attending an interactive session with lawyers, doctors, professors and intellectuals at a contact programme organised by the Congress' Vichar Vibhagh (Intellectual cell).

"Earlier also we have had such meetings, we used to think that you would cooperate with us. We kept thinking like this for the last four years. But it seems you will not cooperate with us. We will have to take other routes," he said.

He said the focus of Congress party was to secure the future of the country, but many journalists did not know what was being done in this regard.

"Many of you perhaps don't even know. If you were to meet me separately, you would not know many of the things that we are doing. Because everybody is interested only in negative news," Sibal said.

When a scribe asked Sibal that if he meant that the role of media was primarily negative, the minister quipped, "You know it yourself."

He also asked journalists to give "good news of India".

Responding to another question, Sibal said British Prime Minister David Cameron's statement in which he termed the Jalianwala Bagh killings as "deeply shameful" should be welcomed.

Congress leader and the head of 'Vichar Vibhagh', Girija Vyas said the session was held as innovative ideas and thoughts are generated by intellectuals. These interactions would be followed by a series of other programmes, she said.

Though the common people are voting for the Congress everywhere, attempts are being made to tarnish the party's image, Vyas said.

It is the responsibility of Congress to convey the right picture to the people, she said.

PTI