RADIO Jaagriti, which was set up after a heated eight-year battle with the authorities, would no longer broadcast speeches by United National Congress (UNC) Member of Parliament Barry Padarath.
The broadcaster is also urging the UNC to take its business elsewhere.
The radio station took the decision after reportedly being warned by industry regulator Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) about MP Padarath’s voicing the term “son of a bitch.”
The parliamentarian is accused of using “offensive language” at UNC’s Monday Night Meetings, which are routinely broadcast on Radio Jaagriti.
Managing Director Vijay Maharaj said in a letter to senior UNC official Peter Kanhai that TATT issued a written warning to Central Broadcasting Services Ltd. (CBSL), operator of the station.
According to Maharaj, TATT complained of “the repetitive use of the term”, which was “inappropriate as it can be considered as offensive language especially when broadcast at a time when children might be listening.”
He said the station is in the process of “obtaining legal advice as to what steps, if any, should be taken in relation to TATT…”
But he added that Padarath’s speeches would no longer be broadcast on Radio Jaagriti and that UNC has the option of “broadcasting your programmes with another station.”
The decision has shocked many, who note the crass language, misrepresentations of facts and blatant race-baiting that are regularly heard on certain other radio frequencies.
One commentator asked whether TATT has issued similar warnings to other broadcasters.
In April 2019, the police raided Jaagriti’s broadcast studios at Tunapuna in search of material as part of an investigation into possible sedition by then-station boss Sat Maharaj.
Sedition is an age-old offence usually associated with violent attempts to overthrow lawful governments.
Maharaj died six months later.
Radio Jaagriti has a unique history in T&T’s broadcast landscape.
Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, the country’s largest Hindu organisation, was repeatedly denied a broadcast licence by TATT, leading to a protracted legal battle, in which the Privy Council delivered the final judgement.
The Maha Sabha said that a supporter of the ruling administration, Louis Lee Sing, was granted a broadcast licence overnight.
The British law lords ruled that the T&T authorities breached the applicant’s constitutional rights of equality before the law, equality of treatment, freedom of conscience and religious belief and freedom of expression.
The Maha Sabha was eventually granted a licence and awarded “compensatory and vindicatory damages” of close to $3 million.
Jaagriti began radio broadcasting in January 2007, on the frequency 102.7 FM.
Now, in a bizarre turn of events, the radio broadcaster is zapping the expression by a public official, at the behest of regulator TATT.
Vijay Maharaj is the son of Sat Maharaj.
