Hyderabad-based Munsif Daily, the largest circulated Urdu daily in the country, published a blank editorial on Thursday in protest against the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government in Telangana for allegedly withdrawing government advertisements from the publication.

The move is reminiscent of the press censorship during the Emergency, which had prompted certain newspapers, including The Statesman, to print blank editorials.

Advertisement

The Munsif Daily wrote a special feature today besides the blank editorial claiming that it was being punished for writing the truth instead of government propaganda.

The newspaper claimed that the cuts in government advertisements came after it reported about the two dozen communal incidents that took place in Telangana after the new regime took over and how miscreants demolished an abandoned mosque in Chilkur at night and the government avoided its reconstruction.

When the uniform of the girls studying in minority residential schools was changed to remove the dupatta, the newspaper had reported it prominently, forcing a rethink. It took up issues such as the protection of Wakf properties and delays in salaries of imams and muezzins and criticized the ruling party for failing to appoint a minister from the Muslim community.

The feature claimed that the government decided to hurt it financially as Indira Gandhi had done during Emergency because it could not stop the newspaper from divulging the truth. Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Washington DC, in December, 2023, when he had stated, “Freedom of press is under threat in India, and the world can see it,” the daily wrote that his own party was strangling the press in Telangana.

It said though every Urdu newspaper in the country criticised the Modi government, their share of central advertisements was never withdrawn.

“Perhaps the authorities thought they could force Munsif into submission by cutting off this financial lifeline…We have neither surrendered nor reduced our coverage… As a mark of protest against this unjust treatment, today’s editorial is intentionally left blank,” stated the newspaper. The blank editorial by the prominent Urdu daily created a sensation in the state, particularly among the minorities.