NDTV ban put on hold as govt believes in freedom of expression: Naidu

The decision to put the ban on hold was taken by Venkaiah Naidu after meeting the leadership of NDTV who "requested revocation of ban on NDTV India."

In a series of tweets, Naidu tweeted: "NDTV leadership presented an appeal to me, which I said I will have a look & decided, till the process, the ban will be on hold."

However, he said that the channel has indeed compromised with the national security with its coverage of the Pathankot attack.

"IMC (Inter Min com) ​is clear that NDTV has violated due process &procedure & compromised national security in their coverage of Pathankot attack," Naidu posted.

He said that since his government follows liberal policies therefore the ban has been put on hold.

"But, in sync with the Government’s liberal democratic ethos & principles, this decision was taken with regard to NDTV," he wrote.

Slamming the Congress regime and it's decision to declare Emergency in 1975, Naidu tweeted: "Unlike the Congress which muzzled free speech in 1975 & between 2004-2014, the NDA government believes in freedom of expression."

This comes after the Supreme Court has agreed to hear NDTV's appeal against the ban on Tuesday.

News network NDTV has moved the Supreme Court, challenging the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry's decision to pull its Hindi channel, NDTV India, off air for a day over its Pathankot terror attack reportage.

The channel confirmed its decision in a report on Monday.

"NDTV has challenged the government's one-day ban of its Hindi channel in the Supreme Court today. NDTV India has been ordered off-air on Wednesday with the government accusing it of broadcasting sensitive details of January's terror attack on the air force base in Pathankot," the report read.

The I&B Ministry had earlier said that it banned the channel for revealing strategically sensitive information in one of its coverage.

Refuting the central government's claims, NDTV has accused it of bias.

The government's move was condemned by other political parties, with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee calling it an 'emergency like situation'.

The Editor's Guild of India too took a swipe at the government and urged it to revoke the ban.

However, defending its decision, I&B Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said that the freedom of press is important but not at the cost of compromising a country's security.