Anurag Thakur's speech at Valedictory function of 100th year celebrations of Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi

Union Minister Anurag Thakur spoke about Mathrubhumi's contribution to India's freedom struggle, and its efforts to uphold India's democratic ethos during the Emergency. He also urged the media to counter the kind of fake narratives and anti-India bias.

Check out his full speech:

It is an honor and privilege to be part of the Valedictory function of Mathrubhumi's Centenary Celebrations. I take this occasion to convey my greetings to all those associated with Mathrubhumi. Several leading lights such as K. P. Kesava Menon, K.A. Damodar Menon, Kerala Gandhi K. Kelappan and Kurur Neelakantan Namboodiripad others have been associated with Mathrubhumi.

I would also like to remember M.P. Veerendra Kumar, who oversaw the rapid growth of Mathrubhumi. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji who addressed the inauguration of centenary year celebrations of Mathrubhumi last year said, India will never forget M.P. Veerendra Kumar ji's efforts to uphold India's democratic ethos during the Emergency.

Mathrubhumi was started to strengthen India's freedom struggle and was among the brightest stars which led the unifying light against the colonial rule.

If we look back at our history, almost all the Indian greats have been associated with some or the other publication.

Mahatma Gandhi, with whose inspiration Mathrubhumi was born is also remembered for his works in Young India, Navjivan and Harijan. Prabuddha Bharat was associated with Swami Vivekananda.

Lokmanya Tilak nurtured Kesari and Mahratta. Gopal Krishna Gokhale was associated with Hitavada. The list is endless.

It is always assuring and energizing to know that when our Bharat is celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav i.e. 75 years of independence, there are media houses like Mathrubhumi which have already completed 100 years of service to the nation.

This reaffirms the fact that the fourth pillar of Indian democracy is strong and vibrant. It reaffirms the fact that the Indian media not only fought shoulder to shoulder in attaining national freedom but it is still working shoulder to shoulder for making India a Vishwaguru.

There is a proverb that 'Facts are sacred Opinion is free'. I want to emphasize here that the democratic nature of our great country will always remain a fact. No matter how many unsubstantiated and illogical opinions are delivered freely from within or abroad.

Here I would also like to call upon organizations like Mathrubhumi to develop an effective mechanism to counter these kind of fake narratives and anti-India bias.

The nation will celebrate 100 years of independence in 2047. PM Narendra Modi Ji has resolved to make India a developed nation by then. This means that India's Swarnim Yug will start after 2047. But Mathrubhumi has already entered its Swarnim Yug in 2023.

Here I would like to make a very important point. As you have entered your Swarnim Yug, your responsibility also increases manifold.

Friends, with great difficulty struggle we were able to break the shackles of colonialism. It took centuries. So it is our collective responsibility that we do not allow this menace to resurface in any form.

The advent of newer technologies presents a unique opportunity to break barriers; however, there lurks a growing danger of 'Digital Colonialism' on platforms run by algorithms coded offshore behind the walls of transparency.

We must remain cautious not to accept anything and everything in the name of innovation and modernity.

Foreign publications, companies organizations with inherent anti-India bias peddling distorted facts must be identified and called out. Here the Indian media which understands the ground reality will have to play a crucial role.

Friends,
The print medium, especially our newspapers hold a significant position in upholding the credibility of the news. From colonial times it enjoyed the power of shaping public opinion and still does so.

So I would also like to take this opportunity to request the media fraternity to remain cautious and desist from giving its space intentionally or unintentionally to such voices and narratives that have the potential to threaten the integrity of India.

I am sure that Mathrubhumi's values and resolutions to create awareness in the nation will continue unabated.

The way our journalist colleagues worked like 'Karma Yogis' in the interest of the nation during the Corona period in the last two years will also be remembered forever.

I would like to put on record an appreciation to the Mathrubhumi group that it was among the few media houses which did not sack its employee even as it suffered losses during the pandemic.

At the same time, I would also like to mention about the huge appreciation of the Central Government's Insurance schemes from Kerala's civil society common people. One of the main reasons of this was because the media organizations like Mathrubhumi communicated the right message.

It is a pleasure and a privilege to be here today at this event of Mathrubhumi. Let me begin by honouring the memory of the legendary KP Kesava Menon who founded this newspaper in 1923. It was his contribution to India's struggle for freedom. And he fittingly named the newspaper 'Mathrubhumi', or 'Motherland'.

From Kerala to Kashmir, among the many threads that unite the diverse people of this great nation, possibly the strongest is their belief that India is their motherland - their karmabhumi and punyabhumi. The newspaper Kesava Menon founded is a tribute to this unshakeable belief.

Unfortunately, and I mean it literally, there are some who do not believe so. For them India is not their motherland. They have a 'fatherland' which is a foreign country from where they derive their foreign ideology. Then there are those who misquote the Constitution and have no knowledge of the Constituent Assembly debates, to describe our nation as a mere 'Union of States'. This shapes their narrow, spiteful politics which, in many ways, is alien to the core identity of India.

These days the word 'democracy' is heard often in public discourse; a noble principle of governance has been reduced to a fashion statement by those who have constantly tried to weaken democracy and its institutions in our country. Violators are now pretending to be victims.

We must remember that unlike Western countries, democracy is not an artificial implant on India - it is an integral and indestructible part of our civilisational history. The sabhas and samitis that that existed in other parts of Bharat Varsha, also existed in what is now known as Kerala. Democracy existed then, it exists now, and it shall exist in the future too.

But what is amazing is how the 'bhakshak', dresseddressed in white tee-shirt, is trying to project itself as the 'rakshak' of democracy

The world's first elected Communist Government came to power in Kerala in 1957 in the elections held soon after the State's formation in 1956. The undivided Communist Party of India had full majority.

What happened next? Unable to tolerate the fact that the people of Kerala had not voted the ruling party to power, the Government of the time invoked Article 356 of the newly-minted Constitution of India to sack the Left Government. The Congress got away with impunity.

It was the first gross misuse of the Constitution. Subsequently, the they abused Article 356 to sack 93 State governments, striking blow after severe blow to democracy in India, pulping political diversity and making political differences a punishable offence.

We are gathered here to celebrate the fine journalism of Mathrubhumi. It is important that we reflect on the impediments that are placed in the path of free and fair journalism by those who talk a lot about the traditions of democracy but do very little to preserve those traditions of democracy.

We must and should take note of how offices and studios of news organisations are attacked and ransacked, as it happened recently simply because they do not toe the line. We should be concerned how journalists are sacked, as it happened recently , for defying the certain Version of News'.

I always thought news was news. Such outrageous assaults weaken democracy and its institutions.

It is as outrageous and unacceptable as the ceaseless attacks on those who hold a different political view and have strong feelings for their 'Motherland' in Kerala. The brutal attempt to silence them has failed. I pay my humble tribute to those men and women who stood up for their dharma and whose only fault was that they were associated with the RSS. The attacks on them weaken democracy; their courage, forbearance and steadfastness strengthens democracy.

Governments have responsibilities, so does media have responsibilities. I call upon journalists to do their job sincerely without either fear or favour. Mathrubhumi has set the standards very high. Others must strive to reach those standards and even go beyond them.

As a nation we are at a critical moment in our history. India is like a plane taxiing on the runway in preparation of take-off. We are poised to take off as a global power with an economy that is the world's fifth largest and the fastest growing in turbulent times. We are the proverbial lighthouse on the shore of stormy seas, the glimmer of hope in a bleak global economy. The G20 Year prepares us for that take-off.

Nothing must come in the way. Indeed, everything must be done to ensure the take off is smooth. A rising India means rising Indians. Let us bear this in mind.