Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday said that the criticism of the one-day blackout of NDTV India was politically motivated, PTI reported. Naidu said the criticism of the ban by various organisations and political leaders was “ill informed” and was meant to create a controversy.

Naidu said that the grounds for the order to take NDTV India off the air on November 9 were based on the logical conclusions of advisories issued by the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government after the militant attack on Mumbai in November 2008. The UPA government had recorded 21 instances of ordering several television channels to go off the air between 2005-’14, Naidu said, adding that certain channels were banned for showing “obscene visuals”.

“People of the country are also wise enough to appreciate which of the two violations – showing obscene visuals at the stroke of midnight and risking the lives of defence personnel and civilians through a live telecast of anti-terrorist operations in broad daylight – is a serious threat to the interests of the nation including its sovereignty, integrity and security,” Naidu said. He also rejected allegations that the ban was comparable to the gag on media during the Emergency and said that leaders Bharatiya Janata Party “would shudder to even think of doing the same to others”.

Naidu’s remarks came a day after politicians and bodies including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Editors Guild of India criticised the decision to ban NDTV India for a day for revealing “strategically-sensitive” information while covering the Pathankot attack in January. An Information and Broadcasting panel said the channel “appeared to give out the exact location of the remaining terrorists with regard to the sensitive assets in their vicinity” when they aired the details in real time.