Roni-Salman feud hits media

The arrest of ruling party lawmaker Gulam Mowla Roni came in a dramatic background. In the case over attack on two Independent TV channel journalist, Roni  received bail from the district court. But on the very next day the court cancelled the bail and then within several hours he was put under the bar.

Earlier Home Minister MK Alamgir said the matter will be investigated before legal action will be taken as Roni filed another case against Salman Rahman, the owner of the TV channel and the two TV crews for ‘storming’ into his office. But one can only wonder how the police investigation was completed just overnight and the court was convinced of its veracity. It appears that the case is being manhandled being influenced from one powerful quarter or the other.

Roni kicked the newsmen to the ground while a gang of musclemen punched blows on their face as they were waiting outside his office in a city building. The TV crew, who work on a regular crime series, went to the spot claiming they have information that a big amount of bribe money was to be handed over to Roni by certain business group relating to a tender. They wanted to take the photo shots and the real story if the reported incident takes place. The information may be or may not be true. But Roni made the preemptive attack on newsmen; gave them brutal beating and confined them in his office until police and some media leaders appeared on the spot to free them and send them to hospital.

It appears that the media becomes an unwilling victim of a rather private feud and bitter relations between Gulam Mowla Roni, MP, and Salman Rahman, the owner of the Independent TV channel and adviser on private sector to Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina. Roni recently emerged as a star TV talk shows discussant and he was using the opportunity to slam BEXIMCO boss Salman Rahman as a highly corrupt individual. In most TV shows and writing columns in newspapers Roni was attacking Salman for his leading role in stock market scam in 2010 as he was also alleged to have led the scam in stock market crash of 1996.  It is not clear why Roni was increasingly targeting Salman though he claimed he was doing so as his moral obligation to expose a corrupt person to the society. He dismissed Salman Rahman as no-man in Awami League politics and was even targeting Awami League leadership presenting himself as an honest critics of wrong politics.  On several occasion Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is said to have become annoyed with him for attacking AL politics while Salman Rahman was feeling bitter.  Many tend to think that the Independent TV team was chasing Roni on instructions from Salman for an alleged crime which can’t be proved. But why the presence of the TV crew made Roni angry was also not understandable. If the alleged fund transfer was not true then why did he attack the newsmen. Roni was aware of the drive of the Independent TV team. He said he received information recently that the same group was in his Golachipa constituency in Patuakhali district and collected inputs for the crime series.

However, after he assaulted the TV team, political groups also held demonstration against him and demanded punishment. They identified Gulam Mowla Roni as a highly corrupt person leading gangsters to beat the opposition and harvest illegal gains. Reports quoting a powerful local Uapazila Awami League leader and published in a local English daily on Sunday last said Roni has misappropriated at least Tk 4 crore from three local educational institutions and cases were pending against him in the district court. It is alleged that one of the named institutions does not exist but its registration was recorded three years ago to receive annual allocation from the government. He was the beneficiary of the scheme. He has also misused huge amount of local development fund. Other reports accuse his of land grabbing of river beds outside the district town. So it appears that the confrontation between the two Awami League leaders basically relates to protect their ill gotten fortune.  Police have recorded two cases on this incident. One has been lodged for Salman Rahman and the two journalists on ‘attempt to murder’. Roni on the other hand has filed the case accusing the TV newsmen for ‘storming into his office’ and putting ‘threats on his life.’  Home Minister MK Alamgir said police will probe into the incident. If Roni is found guilty, steps would be taken against him. Meanwhile, journalist organizations have dubbed Roni as the enemy of the media, demanded his punishment and gave the call to boycott him from media programme.   It appears that the Roni episode is not the lone case which has exposed the ugly face of some AL law makers of repute.  Such incidents are rising because of government’s inaction. Earlier, Kamal Ahmed Majumder MP caused turmoil for attacking a female reporter of a TV channel when she went to Monipur High School in the city and had dared to put a question to him, who is the chairman of the school, as to why students were made to pay exorbitant admission fees.

In 2009, Abdur Rahman Bodi, MP from Tekhnaf, assaulted three polling officers entering into the polling centers during the upazila election. Their only fault was that they opposed to fake voting. In July 2011, Gulam Faruk Khondker raided the Pabna Deputy Commissioner’s office as the DC refused to recruit some party cadres in government job. A female magistrate was physically assaulted in the examination hall as she was taking the selection test. Besides, Nurunnabi Shaon, MP from Bhola, was accused of killing a local party worker using his personal pistol but he escaped legal action. Ilias Mollah, MP from Mirpur, Dhaka had earlier slapped a policeman on the face in June 2010 at Ashulia but nothing happened. Sheikh Afil Uddin, MP of Jessore, had beaten a police officer in his constituency in August 2010 and no legal action followed. Again in May last year, Giashuddin Ahmed, MP from Goforgaon, fired on a crowd as they were agitating against him. But nothing happened.

Source: Weekly Holiday