“Arrogant secular Indian media” – excerpts

From my “To Post” list, a very relevant article on the state of Indian media: The ‘arrogant’ secular Indian media by Ramesh J Menon, New York

**** Excerpts: (emphasis mine) ****

“Recently, I was watching “The Big Fight”, on Star TV, hosted by Rajdeep Sardesai. During the course of the show, B P Singh, an ex-IPS officer, pulled out a paper, which he said contained the apology of a principal of a Christian school from Rajkot.

The apology was for forcing a group of students to sign at the last page of a bible, which said, “I am sinner. I have sinned. Jesus bled for our sins. I accept Jesus as my saviour.” The principal had, as claimed by B P Singh, threatened the students of expulsion, in case they didn’t sign the paper. The apology letter was signed by the principal.

How would you react when there is some serious allegation like this? May be you will believe it. May be you will wait till you really see the document.

The surprise came from Rajdeep Sardesai’s next question to the “secular” Jayanti Natarajan of the Congress. In his question, he mentioned that the ‘sangh’ members always carried “propaganda material” to pursue their cause.

Propaganda? Hmmm. “Hum kahe to jhoot, tum kaho to Guru Baani!”

This has become a regular feature of the secular media. I did a research on the Website about the incident B P Singh was refereeing to. By the way, the Internet has been a boon to people like me who want information without having to leave the bedroom.

The then Home Minister of Gujarat, in the Assembly of Gujarat had stated, in response to the Bible burning by a group of ‘sanghis’, that the school’s minor girls were being forced to make “a signed commitment on the last page of the Bible which said they considered Jesus Christ as their saviour.” He called this “a Constitutionally illegal undertaking”.

If a Home Minister makes this statement in the Assembly, shouldn’t there be some truth in it. But the secular media has already decided that anything the ‘sanghis’ say is a lie. A mere propaganda.

However, the most disappointing part of the question was the way in which Rajdeep put it. As though he was shushing a teenager for producing wrong information.

…

This arrogance of the ‘secular media’ is not a once in a blue moon event. Next day, I was watching the ‘Star News’. It was a Hindi news programme. I don’t know the anchor’s name. But what caught my attention was the way he presented a news item on how Modi is allegedly trying to “steal” the Sardar legacy by projecting himself as a successor to the ‘Iron man of India’. This is how the anchor began the news item.

“Aur ab Narendra Modi ke naye paitre”. In English, “And now, new dramatics by Narendra Modi!”

And this is how he ended the show! “Narendra modi ke sardar banne ka naakaam koshish”. In English “A failed attempt by Modi to become the Sardar.” Perhaps, ‘Star News’ crew suffers from Bollywood mania.

What do you call this? Arrogance? Absolutely! Perhaps, ‘Star TV’ belongs to the same ‘secular media’, from where calls from by the likes of Dileep Padgaonkar to ban the right from daily news. And they claim to be the guardians of free speech.

Just before writing my article, I read an article by Vir Sanghvi (of the tabloid newspaper …oops did I say tabloid.. I will take a shot at it later) on Praveen Togadia. He came down hard on Bal Thackeray and Praveen Togadia. No qualms about it! It’s a free country. But the funny part is this. He talks about decent talk. And look what he has written about Praveen Togadia.

“Should we allow him to rush from studio to studio, fixed mongoose smile on face, semi-intelligible rhetoric already pre-rehearsed, and encourage him to make abusive statements?”

Hmmm. Mongoose smile! I haven’t seen a mongoose smile ever in my life. Perhaps, Sanghvi has a club of smiling “mongooses”. And then! Semi-intelligible. Oh I forgot! Pre-rehearsed. So, any hard line Hindu leader who has the guts to speak his mind belongs to the above club.

He also calls Modi a Neanderthal, (Species of the genus Homo that inhabited much of Europe and the Mediterranean lands in the late Pleistocene, c. 100,000-35,000 years ago. had a low level of brain activity (DUMB THAT IS), and is extinct today according to History Channel which I watch regularly). This is not the first time Sanghvi has called him one! You can read the rest of the article to know Sanghvi’s views on Bal Thackeray.

And he has the nerve to talk about decency. Calling a CM of a state, a Neanderthal isn’t abusive, Mr Sanghvi? (Yeah I missed the NAZI suffix to that).

What is it in these people, which makes them believe that any one who speaks against them is a mongoose? That they belong to the semi-intellect category. Is it the upbringing? Like in my school, students were fined if they spoke in Hindi. (Perhaps to increase proficiency in English, but at the cost of Hindi). Is this the mentality, which is brewing the sense of superiority complex in them?

…And how does this secular bandwagon try to achieve this control? Of course, by arrogantly brushing aside the views of the right-wingers, as mere propaganda. No matter, how much rationale or reason, there may be in those views, who cares! Our aim is to stop them. By any means.

…

The secular press and media, say that they will expose the ‘sanghis’. To whom will they expose? That is my question. With a 2 per cent population, which can read English, fortunately India is not a ground for the “expose” these people are talking about.

What India needs is a medium like Fox News? Perhaps an anchor likes Bill Reilly! Who does not hide behind his personal prejudices when dealing with news items. The spin and absolute arrogance has to stop. These people, who think that they have more intellect, should be made to show that they really have the intellect they claim to have.

…

What India needs is a balanced news medium where people can listen to NEWS and not VIEWS of anchors. Newspapers where Editorials are not printed on front pages. Don’t think that the people of India don’t have the intellect of what Modi is going to do. Or whether Togadia has a mongoose smile or not. Anyone who takes the time out to read and see the news has the basic intellect to make sense of what he or she sees or reads. It is high time the arrogant, prejudiced ‘SM Inc’ workers, got this heed. Further, you may impress the International Religion Forum or the Amnesty International with your “great” journalism. But people like me aren’t impressed.

Perhaps, in the secular world, there is no centre or right! It’s always the left. But they forget that if you always take a left turn, you will end up from the place you started!”

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What do readers think? Comments please.