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Journalism of Courage
The Minister of Culture, Youth and Tourism, Ananth Kumar, loves his motherland deeply. Of that there is little doubt. He loses no opportunity to extol India8217;s many-splendoured appeal. Also, being a man of ideas, he loves to promote worthy causes that showcase the timeless allure of Indian spirituality. He has made known his desire to promote religious tourism in a big way and the recent excitement over the Sind Yatra testifies to that desire. All this may be worthy of commendation. However, it would also be relevant to remind the minister that before he begins to promote India8217;s ancient spiritual legacy, he should first set his house in order and address some very modern vices that are putting this country8217;s tourism and indeed its spirituality in bad odour.
Just the other day, two young Japanese women revealed how a gang of hoodlums, posing as tourist guides in Agra, had drugged them, raped them and cheated them of their money. When the women complained, they were promised marriage. It was only later that this sordid racket was exposed, thanks to the courage the two women displayed. On Friday, an American national, James Bradford Moore, who is believed to have left for Pushkar and Rishikesh, was declared missing. It was in precisely similar circumstances that Australian tourist Gregory John Powell had disappeared five years ago. Powell hasn8217;t been traced yet. There have been innumerable cases of this kind which may have been recorded in some police station or the other and then promptly forgotten. Even when action is taken, there can be a miscarriage of justice.
In the mid-1990s, the grandson of the Punjab chief minister was caught, along with his buddies, molesting a French national. To this day, justice has not been done in that case.
The first sight that greets the tourist arriving in any of the country8217;s airports are gangs of touts waiting to hustle the unsuspecting into waiting cabs which don8217;t just overcharge but are often in league with hotel interests and criminal gangs. So ubiquitous is the tout and so well entrenched that he operates at ease even in areas like facilitation counters that are normally sealed off for security considerations.
Apart from these dubious characters, criminals also masquerade as tourist guides and inveigle themselves into the affections of the men and women who cross their path. Last year, the task force set up by the Tourism ministry recommended that strict rules be formulated to deal with the menace. But the situation demands more than new rules and regulations, it demands effective policing and monitoring. Tourists should be educated on how they can ensure that their trip to India is not just enjoyable but safe. Emphasising safety does, in no way, bring disrepute to the country.
What does, are these ugly instances of crime against visiting tourists. The Tourism Department also has to bear a great deal of the blame for this unhappy state of affairs. If it was indeed catering to the needs of the foreign tourist as it is meant to, surely such incidents would have been far fewer.
