Savaging the journalist

BJP8217;S leaders, both in Gujarat and Delhi, are presently falling over one another to condemn Sunday8217;s attack by the police on a lar...

BJP8217;S leaders, both in Gujarat and Delhi, are presently falling over one another to condemn Sunday8217;s attack by the police on a large number of mediapersons at Ahmedabad8217;s Sabarmati Ashram. While the BJP spokesperson, Sunil Shastri, described it as 8216;8216;very unfortunate8217;8217; and 8216;8216;shocking8217;8217;, even the Gujarat chief minister, not known to acknowledge state culpability, despite clinching evidence of it staring him in the face, was forced to make suitable noises of regret this time. It is, of course, easier for the BJP8217;s top brass to take such a 8216;principled8217; position when it is sundry policemen who are the focus of the accusations. This accounts for the alacrity with which the erring policemen in this case were suspended or transferred. When it comes to punishing their own men 8212; and surely the behaviour of those who constituted the mob that attacked the peace meetings at the Sabarmati Ashram, including the BJP youth wing leader Amit Thaker, invites punishment 8212; there is a studied silence. In fact, Shastri was careful to preface his words of regret over the police attack by stating flatly that the Modi government cannot be held responsible for the incident.

That is an amazing disclaimer indeed, seeing that it is the state government that has consistently and consciously targeted the media from the very day the heinous attack at Godhra happened. The utterly false accusation that the media did not sufficiently attack the perpetrators of Godhra was sought, by the dint of repetition, to be made the official 8216;8216;truth8217;8217;. When violence subsequently spread like wildfire throughout the state capital and its environs, with images of absolute and total bestiality being played out on the streets with complete state complicity, it was the media that was at hand to record it. The truth, when it was displayed on front pages and TV screens, was so unpalatable that the perpetrators of the violence soon cried foul. The chief minister, while he did not feel the need to bestir himself to end the violence, did for a while ban the telecasting of some TV channels in the state for showing it. He accused the media of bias and of deliberately fanning the fires and his supporters in Delhi made their displeasure over 8216;8216;irresponsible8217;8217; media coverage known. Going by their stance, it was almost as if the Gujarat riots were created by the media.

The truth is that if the media did not display exemplary courage in the face of fire and tell the truth as it required to be told, Gujarat may have burned for much longer. Today, Narendra Modi boasts that he brought peace to the state in 72 hours. This of course is a half-truth. Suffice it to say that the situation would not have been brought under control if the army had not been called in 8212; and, remember, Modi himself resisted the idea for as long as he could. The army may not have been called in when it was, if the media was not at hand to tell the story of how Gujarat8217;s democracy was reduced to near-total mobocracy. For doing its job, the media was forced to pay a heavy price by facing hostile mobs, by being roughed up by louts, by being subjected to smear campaigns and hate speech. Sunday8217;s violence perpetrated on several mediapersons, including a photographer from this newspaper, must be seen as part of this diabolic, anti-democratic campaign.