Hours after the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) asked the I&B ministry to withdraw the press release wherein it declared to blacklist journalists and cancel their accreditation if found propagating “fake news”, Congress President Rahul Gandhi took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying “One can clearly see a loss of control and panic setting in now”.

While using hashtag BasEkAurSaal, Rahul Gandhi in a tweet said , “Sensing mounting anger on the “fake news” notification, the PM orders a U-Turn on his own order. One can clearly see a loss of control and panic setting in now”.

Sensing mounting anger on the “fake news” notification, the PM orders a U-Turn on his own order. One can clearly see a loss of control and panic setting in now. #BasEkAurSaal — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 3, 2018

Earlier, senior Congress leader Ahmad Patel, while, appreciating the attempt to control ‘fake news’ questioned the validity of the proposed guidelines.

I appreciate the attempt to control fake news but few questions for my understanding:

1.What is guarantee that these rules will not be misused to harass honest reporters?

2.Who is going to decide what constitutes fake news ?

1/2 — Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) April 2, 2018

3. Is it not possible that motivated complaints will be filed to suspend accreditation until enquiry is on? 4.What is guarantee that these guidelines will check fake news or is it an attempt to prevent genuine reporters from reporting news uncomfortable to establishment? 2/2 — Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) April 2, 2018

The PMO’s decision came as a setback to the Smriti Irani-led Information and Broadcasting Ministry after the ministry received condemnation over it proposed guidelines.

Earlier, the PMO had said that Press Council of India should handle the issue.

Many from the journalistic circles termed the guidelines as an ‘assault on the freedom of the Press’.

The order from the PMO came 20 minutes after IB Minister Smriti Irani posted on Twitter, saying that she was more than happy to engage with journalists to tackle the menace of fake news.

Earlier, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting declared that a journalist’s accreditation will be suspended or permanently cancelled if he or she is found generating or propagating fake news.

In a press release issued on Monday, the ministry said the Press Council of India and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), the two regulatory bodies for print and television media, respectively, would determine whether a news item was fake or not.

The government had said any complaint of instances of fake news would be referred to the Press Council of India if it pertained to print media and to the NBA if it related to the electronic media. “This determination is expected to be completed within 15 days by these agencies,” the ministry said.

As per the amended guidelines, if the publication or telecast of fake news is confirmed, the accreditation of that journalist would be suspended for a period of six months in the first violation and for one year in case of a second violation. In case of a third violation, his or her accreditation would be cancelled permanently, the ministry said in the release.

“The Accreditation Committee of the Press Information Bureau, which consists of representatives of both the Press Council of India and NBA shall be invariably be reached out to for validating any accreditation request of any news media agency,” said the release.

While examining the requests seeking accreditation, the ministry said, the regulatory agencies would examine “whether the `Norms of Journalistic Conduct’ and `Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards’ prescribed by the PCI and NBA respectively are adhered to by the journalists as part of their functioning” and that it would be “obligatory for journalists to abide by these guidelines”.