Opinion Hijinks in Hisar

Noise of the ashram standoff drowned out other news makers, including the prime minister.

Shailaja Bajpai

November 20, 2014 12:04 AM IST First published on: Nov 20, 2014 at 12:04 AM IST

For once, after a very long time, the media seemed to have the upper hand in its relationship with the ruling party. (Source: PTI Photo)

The day began with TV news correspondents rushing hither and thither in the middle of the confrontation between the Haryana police and the supporters of “sant” Rampal, choking on their words — and the dust — in the mayhem generated by the violent standoff. By the evening, they were nursing sore throats and badly bruised bodies after the police apparently vented their frustration at their failure to break through Rampal’s human barricade on the media.

Understandably, the news channels were outraged, but even then there was a competitive edge to their anger. Each paraded members of its news teams injured by the police at Barwala — NDTV, Headlines Today and Times Now showed off bandaged limbs. India TV went further: it displayed a broken camera damaged beyond repair and claimed it had been deliberately destroyed by the police so as to prevent them from recording the unfolding drama. No wonder Times Now asked: “Fighting Goons or the Media?”

The BJP faced the media’s ire without being able to withdraw behind Narendra Modi. Having formed the government in Haryana after the recent assembly polls, it found itself accused of manhandling the media and mishandling the entire episode. On IBN7, former ASG Vikas Singh suggested that self-styled sants and babas had a big hand in the BJP’s poll victory and hence the government’s slow going on the Rampal arrest. “Hey Bhagwan! Yeh kaisa Ram?” asked News 24.

The BJP launched “operation media”. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the media was the fourth pillar of society and should be treated accordingly. Sambit Patra, a BJP spokesperson, agreed that everyone should respect the media. Prabhat Jha felt the media should not have been attacked. For once, after a very long time, the media seemed to have the upper hand in its relationship with the ruling party.

Rampal and his supporters, the Haryana government and the Haryana police will not have endeared themselves to the prime minister. Their collective hijinks on Tuesday and Wednesday morning overshadowed his events in Australia and Fiji. With live coverage of the Barwala impasse on many news channels — Hindi and English — repeat telecasts of his speech to the Australian parliament, for instance, were missing during the day.

It’s a speech many viewers would have liked to hear, since it was in English. Modi normally speaks in Hindi (even at the United Nations), so to hear him in English was to assure all of us that he practises a three-language formula (Gujarati, Hindi, English), depending on the company he keeps. The Australians seemed impressed. Why, he even bowled over former cricketers like Steve Waugh and Glenn McGrath, who praised him unstintingly (Times Now).

Sudarshan News deserves a restraining order. At the very least. Not quite sure what kind of news channel it is supposed to be but on Tuesday night, there was a kurta-clad gentleman with a tika on his forehead (Sureshji?) who had this disconcerting habit of calling out “Jai Hind” whenever a caller rang to speak on his show, Nanga Naach. After broadcasting something about Salman Khan and his sister marrying a Hindu, the channel ran a speech by MIM’s Akbaruddin Owaisi, in which he says that Muslims like him will not leave India empty-handed, they will take monuments like the Taj Mahal and the Qutab Minar with them, the anchor takes viewers’ calls on the subject. Several callers openly say “yeh log” should have their hands and feet chopped off and then they ought to be sent to Pakistan. Sureshji agrees and adds his own bloodthirsty comments — something about such people being like “deemak” who eat into the fabric of Indian society and need to be dealt with accordingly. In earlier episodes, which you can watch on YouTube, he says that in order to save the nation, Sudarshan News will cross “the lakshman rekha” of acceptable language to expose and condemn its enemies.

How is Sureshji permitted to cross this “lakshman rekha” with such objectionable comments? Who has allowed Sudarshan News to call itself a news channel? How did it obtain a licence? And why are DTH operators such as Tata Sky carrying it? The language and ideas on this channel are grossly offensive, not merely to a particular community but to basic human dignity. It doesn’t deserve to be on air. Will someone please remove it?

shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com