Halla Bol campaign

Halla Bol means "Attack" . It was a campaign started in 1994 by then Chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and leader of Samajwadi Party Mulayam Singh Yadav against two Hindi newspapers who were not following his party's lines . The newspapers were Dainik Jagran and Amar Ujala .

On October 12 ,1994 addressing a public meeting Mulayam Singh Yadav denounced the two papers, "Halla Bol", he exhorted his followers, "Commence the storming". Why read them, he told them, you don't have to even see them. No one present had any doubt what they meant: Don't let them be seen, that is what it meant.

After that call, hawkers and news agents selling the two papers were beaten up. Journalists of the two papers were beaten up. Vehicles carrying Jagran were waylaid and burnt. The house of the editor of Amar Ujala was attacked. Advertisements to the papers were cut. Thousands of copies of the papers were torched.

The national press did not take note of this assault on the freedom of press .

External links

* [http://www.hvk.org/articles/1196/0000.html]
* [http://www.exchange4media.com/content/content.asp?content_id=58]