New Delhi, Nov 5 (IANS): The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday condemned the central government's decision to ban NDTV India for a day and asked for its immediate withdrawal.

"CPI(M) strongly condemns the order of the Central Government to ban the Hindi news channel, NDTV India, from going off air for a day on November 9. This is a brazen attack on media freedom and an attempt to gag freedom of expression," the party politbureau said in a statement.

"It reveals the increasingly authoritarian attitude of the Modi government," it added.

The CPI(M) also demanded the immediate withdrawal of the ban order and an assurance from the government that "such arbitrary actions will not be undertaken in the future".

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has directed the news channel to go off air from the midnight of November 8 to midnight of November 9 for allegedly breaching broadcast norms in its coverage of the January 2 terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot.