An Estate unto itself
Indian media has taken upon itself the role of saving secularism, which according to them is anti-thesis to Hindutva.
This was evident during the Ram Janma Bhumi movement. The issue was debated right from Parliament to chaupal. Secularism was exposed to the extent it could. The intellectual battle was a draw. Hindutva didn't win or lose, but for the first time, its opponents were defensive. But the demolition of the Babri structure put Hindutva on backfoot. The demolition was explained as a spontaneous reaction to mass anger accumulated over a period of time.
In political parlance, a lot of thinking people agreed that secularism as practiced in India was nothing but the continuation of old Muslim appeasement policy.
During the demolition, around a dozen journalists were manhandled. A journalist who was also a CPM activist told a BJP general secretary that "we will see to it that Hinduvta is vanquished". Journalists from around the country were organised. Some media veterans opposed to Hindutva toured dozens of places and told journalists to fight for secularism and against Hindutva. Court cases were filed and Press council was approached. Demonisation of the RSS movement in dominant media houses scaled newer heights. The Centre was ruthless. Then Prime Minister P V Narshimha Rao hatched a conspiracy to implicate Hindutva icon L K Advani. He clubbed him with some Congressmen to give an impression of being fair. We know what happened after it. The anti-Hindutva media campaign was led by known Leftists, and flanked by opponents of Hindutva.
When the Vajpayee Government came into being, media was baffled, for their continuous demonisation campaign of Sangh could not bear fruit. During the six-year NDA rule, the media worked overtime to deface the BJP-led Government and demonise Sangh Parivar. One can recall the Jhabua nuns rape case. The case was a means to demonise NDA in India and abroad. People from Sangh were painted as brutal rapists. But the truth came out in the form of a court judgement. Media, by and large, ignored the judgement on such a hotly debated issue. The same story was repeated in Dang. Till then, the Sangh, which was earlier painted as anti-Muslim, was now presented as anti-Christian. Ministers of Germany, Canada and US President added fuel to the fire.
After the Graham Stains murder case, the campaign scaled newer heights. Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked pitifully: Has the NDA Government not done any good work for the media to talk about? That was reflective of the media mood against the NDA Government. Unfortunately, Godhra happened and there was massive reaction to the killings.
Narendra Modi was confronted with a Herculean task of controlling riots within
a week, whereas during the Congress regime of Madhav Singh Solanki, riots had lingered on for six months. But the re-invigorated media pounced on Narendra Modi and painted him as fascist. International campaigns are still continuing. I am recounting these mega-media campaigns to drive home the point that the dominant media is the biggest enemy of the Hindutva Movement. It is the prime target of media's demonizing campaign while its objective is to finish the Hindutva movement.
The media tried to drive a wedge between the alliance partners and BJP. However, its real aim was to divide Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani. Had they not been great statesmen, the media would have succeeded with disastrous consequences. Now after the 2004 elections, their role is to confuse and divide the Sangh so that it may not recover from whatever setbacks it may have suffered after the 2004 elections. A dominant media has taken the position that secularism will not survive unless Hindutva is vanquished. Their efforts to achieve their objective are continuing.
Nobody should underestimate the might of media. Media enjoys destruction and is sadist by instinct. An investigative journalist will feel proud if he has been able to damage the reputation of a VIP. Titles like Tehelka are meant to woo readers. Anyone who has the might of megaphone, whether in print or electronic, suffers from inflated ego. A journalist is feared. People are scared of police and politicians, but even the highest in police and politics are frightened by media. In the age of 24X7 channels, the victim doesn't even get a chance to respond before his reputation gets devastated. The media has a friendly Government at the Centre and it would use all the tricks to damage the Hindutva movement.
This was evident during the Ram Janma Bhumi movement. The issue was debated right from Parliament to chaupal. Secularism was exposed to the extent it could. The intellectual battle was a draw. Hindutva didn't win or lose, but for the first time, its opponents were defensive. But the demolition of the Babri structure put Hindutva on backfoot. The demolition was explained as a spontaneous reaction to mass anger accumulated over a period of time.
In political parlance, a lot of thinking people agreed that secularism as practiced in India was nothing but the continuation of old Muslim appeasement policy.
During the demolition, around a dozen journalists were manhandled. A journalist who was also a CPM activist told a BJP general secretary that "we will see to it that Hinduvta is vanquished". Journalists from around the country were organised. Some media veterans opposed to Hindutva toured dozens of places and told journalists to fight for secularism and against Hindutva. Court cases were filed and Press council was approached. Demonisation of the RSS movement in dominant media houses scaled newer heights. The Centre was ruthless. Then Prime Minister P V Narshimha Rao hatched a conspiracy to implicate Hindutva icon L K Advani. He clubbed him with some Congressmen to give an impression of being fair. We know what happened after it. The anti-Hindutva media campaign was led by known Leftists, and flanked by opponents of Hindutva.
When the Vajpayee Government came into being, media was baffled, for their continuous demonisation campaign of Sangh could not bear fruit. During the six-year NDA rule, the media worked overtime to deface the BJP-led Government and demonise Sangh Parivar. One can recall the Jhabua nuns rape case. The case was a means to demonise NDA in India and abroad. People from Sangh were painted as brutal rapists. But the truth came out in the form of a court judgement. Media, by and large, ignored the judgement on such a hotly debated issue. The same story was repeated in Dang. Till then, the Sangh, which was earlier painted as anti-Muslim, was now presented as anti-Christian. Ministers of Germany, Canada and US President added fuel to the fire.
After the Graham Stains murder case, the campaign scaled newer heights. Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked pitifully: Has the NDA Government not done any good work for the media to talk about? That was reflective of the media mood against the NDA Government. Unfortunately, Godhra happened and there was massive reaction to the killings.
Narendra Modi was confronted with a Herculean task of controlling riots within
a week, whereas during the Congress regime of Madhav Singh Solanki, riots had lingered on for six months. But the re-invigorated media pounced on Narendra Modi and painted him as fascist. International campaigns are still continuing. I am recounting these mega-media campaigns to drive home the point that the dominant media is the biggest enemy of the Hindutva Movement. It is the prime target of media's demonizing campaign while its objective is to finish the Hindutva movement.
The media tried to drive a wedge between the alliance partners and BJP. However, its real aim was to divide Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani. Had they not been great statesmen, the media would have succeeded with disastrous consequences. Now after the 2004 elections, their role is to confuse and divide the Sangh so that it may not recover from whatever setbacks it may have suffered after the 2004 elections. A dominant media has taken the position that secularism will not survive unless Hindutva is vanquished. Their efforts to achieve their objective are continuing.
Nobody should underestimate the might of media. Media enjoys destruction and is sadist by instinct. An investigative journalist will feel proud if he has been able to damage the reputation of a VIP. Titles like Tehelka are meant to woo readers. Anyone who has the might of megaphone, whether in print or electronic, suffers from inflated ego. A journalist is feared. People are scared of police and politicians, but even the highest in police and politics are frightened by media. In the age of 24X7 channels, the victim doesn't even get a chance to respond before his reputation gets devastated. The media has a friendly Government at the Centre and it would use all the tricks to damage the Hindutva movement.
Labels: Hindutva, Minority Appeasement
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