Kerala Chief Minister V D Sathisan on Monday wrote to his West Bengal counterpart, Suvendu Adhikari, urging him to intervene in the alleged delay in the renewal of the passport of former Telegraph newspaper editor R Rajagopal.
Rajagopal, a native of Kerala, has been residing in Kolkata for more than three decades. His father, V. Ramadas, served as state secretary of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, the Kerala branch of the national organization that commemorates the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi.
Rajagopal’s passport renewal application was reportedly postponed following an adverse report from Kolkata Police after his name was deleted from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Review (SIR).
“While the election case is being dealt with through the appropriate appeals process, I have learned that the police report had the effect of delaying the renewal of his passport,” Sathisan wrote in his letter. “Rajagopal Ramadas is a well-known journalist based in Kolkata for the past three decades. He had a distinguished career in journalism spanning over three decades, including serving as editor of The Telegraph.”
The Kerala Chief Minister asked Adhikari to “look into the matter urgently”.
Kerala Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan has described reports linking the renewal of the veteran journalist’s passport to the SIR process as “shocking”.
“If this is the treatment meted out to a famous journalist, we can imagine what the ordinary citizens of this country will suffer. Rajagopal may have been a victim of retaliation as he was a harsh critic of the BJP. But at the same time, ordinary citizens are being hounded and their names are being hounded from the NSC with a partisan approach,” Vijayan wrote on his Facebook account.
