Those who have read my pieces on other Indian media would probably appreciate my introductions better and probably also the mood of my reviews in general. I have a lot of resentment for these ’’pseudo-anglasized’’, ’’falsely-modern’’ and ’’self-proclaimed secular’’ mediapersons. And NDTV is full of them. Name a few? Rajdeep Sardesai, Burqa Dutt and almost everyone else. Let me however be more mature. Read what comes below.
My resentment- that borders on complete abhorrence- for the aforesaid mediapersons started from the May 2000 riots in Gujarat and the coverage provided by NDTV-India for Star Network.
When a society sees itself going to pieces and when riots and anarchy come in to the picture, the situations is very sensitive and volatile. Slight actions and words from anywhere can make the situation further chaotic. These actions and words can be of ordinary citizens as well.
If certain members of the society continue to practice customs which are in any manner whatsoever in disagreement with the principles of the other hostile section of society, no matter how minor the issue, it will be responsible, to an extent large or otherwise, in furthering the anger and violence. In such a situation mass media must tackle the situation with a very balanced aproach and keep in mind that a single phrase that comes out of the way can in it’s own capacity be responsible for adding acid to the fire.
However, our friends from NDTV seemed to have forgotten this knowledge just then. You and I know for a fact the reporters for NDTV had spoken things that, whether true or not, should not have been spoken by a team that cares for India. It is in a sense imperative that reporters follow certain ethics that may sometimes indicate at not giving the complete story.
One must realize that sometimes hiding information proves vital in controlling anarchy of the said magnitude. At such times, responsible media must let go of their ego of being the only ones who completely unrobe the truth. Otherwise, the truth is said to have been molested and not uncovered.
I am deliberately trying to be as indirect as I can in my expression here because I have found that not many do actually appreciate the strength of what I am saying and therefore I would not like to unnecessarily bitter my tongue. I am of course little interested in hearing people tell me my views are biased. (Truth molested?)
The mistake our friends in news-channels like NDTV make in trying to become secular, democratic and modernized is that they tend to (and I mean more than tend to) believe that in disrespecting Hinduism is secularism, in burning our cultural and religious sentiments lies democracy and in complete nudity and absolute immorality lies modernity.
If what I have just said was not very close to the truth, we would not have heard NDTV continuously rampaging about Hindus torturring the rest of the Indians; we would not have heard them talking of banning the book by Laine on Chhatrapati Shivaji being an undemocratic act; and we would not have heard them allowing ’’nice’’ women like Mallika Sherawat to defend her sex-driven movies arguing that nudity is a part of our religious customs as well.
When I said ’’nice’’ I really meant foolis*.
I have noticed it repeatedly that the channel I’m reporting on completely ignores reporting on events that are in some way or the other in support of pro-Hindu organizations like the RSS and the VHP on one hand and on the other hand claiming to be the ones showing us the fuller picture of things. It seems that in order that the picture to become full, we need to cut three fourths of it.
Three-fourths, since Hinduism is a major religion of the country.
To be short, all I can say that neither does their tongue speak the truth, nor does patriotism run in their veins. And if it does, they’re certainly anaemic.
My brothers and sisters who follow other religions, please do not think I’m in any manner skeptic or angry with your religions or you in turn. It is just that it pains me to see somebody speaking ill of and insulting my religion- something which I am sure you would also not like very much.