BJP paper, Muslim League’s words: As Left revels in rival dailies’ editorial faux pas, it gets reminded of 2010 gaffe
On January 1, IUML-linked Chandrika’s edit page was published in BJP mouthpiece Janmabhumi, which says it will take action against the plate-making centre where the mistake happened.
The Gulf edition of CPI(M) mouthpiece Deshabhimani published on December 29, 2010, that had carried the edit page of IUML's paper Chandrika. The photo was shared on Facebook by IUML leader K N A Khader. In a comedy of errors, the Kannur edition of the BJP’s Kerala mouthpiece Janmabhumi published the editorial page of the Indian Union Muslim League’s daily Chandrika on New Year’s Day, leaving readers flummoxed. However, as Left leaders and supporters on Friday tried to poke fun at the dailies run by its rivals, they were reminded of a similar blunder by their official party organ over 15 years ago.
The January 1 edit page of Chandrika, which was mistakenly published by Janmabhumi, carried the articles of IUML state president Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal and senior leader M K Muneer. While the Kannur editions of both the dailies are printed at different presses, they depend on a private centre where digital pages are converted into printing plates. That is where the mistake occurred, it is learnt.
“The blunder seemed to have happened due to New Year’s pressure. The conversion of the digital pages into printing plates was done at a private centre. Many newspapers depend on the same centre for the plate-making process. These plates are manually carried to the nearby press by their own staff. The newspaper’s production staff are only at the printing press. The centre should have downloaded Chandrika only after downloading the entire pages of Janmabhumi. The mess up happened while carrying the plates to the press. At the same time, the Chandrika pages remained safe,” said a Janmabhumi official who did not wish to be named.
The official said Janmabhumi would initiate legal proceedings against the centre, where the newspapers have been printing plates for the last 19 years. “Our production staff are also under the scanner,” he added. On Friday, Janmabhumi carried a corrigendum on the edit page of the Kannur edition. It said the computer to plate making firm had admitted to its mistake and expressed regret. The paper said its management had also decided to take legal action against the firm.
As Left supporters and leaders on Friday made fun of the faux pas, an IUML leader pointed out that CPI(M)-affiliated daily Deshabhimani’s Gulf edition had carried the edit page of Chandrika in 2010.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s press secretary P M Manoj, in his Facebook page, wrote, “Both the dailies can justify the incident as a mistake. It may happen when two newspapers are printed at the same press. Although Chandrika’s edit page got printed in Janmabhumi daily, it is a wonder that there is not a single line in that edit page that deals with the BJP’s politics. That means the BJP can fully accommodate the editorial policy of Chandrika. This is what is called an undercurrent.”
In response, IUML’s former legislator K N A Khader reminded Deshabhimani’s mistake in 2010. He shared the paper’s Gulf edition on December 29, 2010, which published Chandrika’s editorial page that had his article criticising the Left. “It created a major controversy. Deshabhimani took back the unsold copies following the blunder. I had witnessed agents flitting in and out of shops to collect the unsold copies,” the IUML leader wrote on Facebook.
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