Terror through guns and TVs: Mumbai, Modi and Media’s role
Terror through guns and TVs: Mumbai, Modi and Media’s role
By Rupang Bhatt
Ahmedabad, DeshGujarat, 1st December, 2008
India should not allow any more news channel now on and should also rethink about freedom of 24 hour news channels at the time when they are covering important events such as recent Mumbai attack. Crews of the TV channels create great indiscipline at every important function, calamity, disaster, crisis. They are not controlled by the government. They can show anything, say anything, do anything(Remember when Kandahar happened, how TV channels showed few more than hundred relatives of hostages on the street shouting against the government?)
Here are some interesting observations on role of the media during Mumbai terror attacks.
Spread rumor and create panic
-It was a Friday afternoon and TV channels started repeatedly telecasting that Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus area was attacked again by the terrorists. Firing was on and a hospital and Saint Xavier’s school were in danger as terrorists were inside. These TV channels showed this false news in large moving, sliding, poping and zooming animated text in bright colors on the screen with exciting and sensation creating background music again and again. Their anchors talked to the field reporters who in response were telling that terrorists had again strike on the streets of southern Mumbai and people were requested by the authority to stay inside. Actually nothing like this had happened. For around half an hour these channels continued to spread rumor and panic in Mumbai by telecasting false news shamefully. They realized their mistake only after around half an hour time and then they suddenly diverted their focus again at the Taj hotel attack. While one channel admitted in text flash on the screen that fresh attack news that they broadcast was only rumor, another channels just to keep their ‘prestige’ intact didn’t care to admit that this was a rumor and a mistake.
A stupid behind mike
-When Narendra Modi came out from Karkare’s house, one TV channel reporter asked him a question so immature and rubbish that you would not believe. He asked Modi “Do you think battle again terrorism is going on well? More than 36 hours have elapsed!”
Perhaps this TV journalist had sinister idea of putting some words in Narendra Modi’s mouth to make an issue and create a big controversy out of it but Modi smartly replied that “I would not deliver any political comment at such time, Army’s brave javans, police and NSG commandos are putting their lives to fight. One should not make an issue out of how much time they are taking. At such time we should boost their morals, we should back them and support them.”
-Media published that Hemant Karkare’s wife had refused to accept Modi’s monitory help offer when Modi offered while his visit to Karkare’s house. This was a complete untruth. The truth was that when Modi visited Karkare’s house, her wife was inside the other room. Modi only met Karkare’s son but never met his wife and Modi had not offered monitory aid to his son. How then the question arises of refusal and denial?
Make non-issue an issue
-TV channels can make issues out of non-issues to fill 24 hours sacred time. When Vilasrao following the foot steps of Modi visited Oberoi site, he talked about everything with the media but did not mention even a word about Modi’s visit. Modi’s visit was not an issue. Modi had visited up to the limit where any common person could visit and he was Modi who named Pakistan at the ground zero(The Prime Minister didn’t or couldn’t) which was very crucial.
But it was some person in media who wanted to make an issue out of Modi’s visit. A vocal journalist asked Deshmukh about Modi’s visit and thus visibly prompted him to say something on that to make an issue.
The question that journalist asked to Deshmukh was “Do you think the Gujarat Chief Minister should have been here in Maharashtra when the Army is handling this so professionally?” The question contained intentions of the journalist who asked it. If he was an unbiased journalist he could simply ask “Deshmukhji please say something on Modi’s visit” but this journalist asked a question in a fashion that would obviously bring an answer that he wanted; Negative and newsworthy for his kind of school of journalism.
Tell me how professionally acting army inside the building and Narendra Modi’s presence at considerably well distance away were connected? Modi had visited the place up to the point where any common person on street could go. In fact 24 hour TV journalists working for more TRPs, more sensation and more profit for their commercial organizations could be more obstructing to the Army’s professional operation. On Friday in the afternoon authority had to order to stop live telecast of the actions and OB vans of profit making channels were moved from the place. Army also had to disconnect TV lines inside the hotels that were attacked because minute to minute live news could be helping the terrorists and their masters based across the border.
-When BJP’s Advani and Rajnathsingh could not participate in PM’s post-Mumbai attacks all party meet they sent Jashwant singh there to represent the BJP. NDTV made an issue out of this in a tone that BJP’s big leaders were deliberately not participating in a crucial meet. Talking to NDTV over a phone, Arun Jaitly advised NDTV not to make an issue out of non issue thing. He said that Advani and Rajnath’s election campaign schedules were fixed days ago and if another two top BJP leaders were already sent to the meeting, what was the issue there?
False news by sacred news service
-PTI on 29th of October released news on Porbandar’s missing fishermen bodies. It said that bodies were found. However bodies are still not found. The news item was baseless. Read on PTI’s cooked story on The Hindu website.
Making money out of those who are killed
-Last and bit funny thing. One prominent NGO style TV channel is showing on it’s screen an animation of digital burning candle ‘to respect’ those who died in Mumbai terror attacks. This channel requests people to SMS on certain number to keep this candle alive. I don’t know how much each SMS costs but as per my knowledge such SMSes add healthy income to TV channels because they are charged commercially.
If the TV channel had announced to distribute income generated by such SMSes to the relatives of those who died in attack, it could be considered as a welcome step with a good idea but nothing like that has been announced.
Long live India!
Teach Pakistan a lesson to root out terrorism from India:Modi
Narendra Modi is correct Mr.Vilasarao,PM’s address was disappointing
Narenda Modi in Mumbai lashes out on PM and Pakistan
Terrorists slit Gujarati fisherman’s throat for Islamic style beheading
This is a war waged by Gaznis on our land, says Togadia
Convene a special meet for the Coastal States:Modi writes to PM
Mumbai attacks:Modi calls up Maharashtra CM to offer Gujarat’s help
Modi met PM over national and Gujarat related security issues(Video)
When Narendra Modi accompanied Manmohan Singh
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Hi Rupang,
Nice article about media,
My thought is how we can make sure public is aware of this article?
Is this article going to publish in gujarati in any of the newspaper, if not than your very good article will be read by only few visitors of this website.
Why don’t deshgujarat.com website think about opening a newspaper or news channel, print meida is still have much more effective than web media.
I will love other peoples insight on this.
Jay
Really nice article. Media is senseless and should be banned to provide live telecast of such a event. Hemant karkare and other two top police officers are actually killed by media.
01.12.2008
It is no use to write ny comment on the this topic where Mr. Modi is concerned.
Modi is called by Gujatatis as GOD IN Beard.
Modi is always write and omnipresent. Media called Modi as POSTeR BOY. No one can be equated with Modi.
Atlast someone started to write about media. Even I noticed since last 5 years that all english and hindi medias are biased. We should not go on what they say and show us, we should use our sense and analysis power.
-P.P
I am big fan of modi
but i dont agree with ur view modi should have waited till the situation was under contrl. BY visitng mumbai when encounter was no he may have caused some security personnel to give him extra securty(he is on top hit list of many terror organs)
it was a hasty move on part of modi
very good my dear brother,
actually, our news channels has took lots of ” rishvat” from the gulf and other N.G.O’S, recently i have also got a mail from my friend, who is living there in gulf, and he has told me this conspirancy. through the desh gujarat i would appeal to the state govt and also the central got, pl, make banned on such type of deshdrohi news channels like, N.D.T.V, its CMD, mr. pranav roy is the brother of cpi leader vrunda karat, and also AAJTAK, CNN IBN, STAR NEWS, . for the good interest in nation.
http://renjithmn.wordpress.com/2008/11/12/an-election-year-indian-media-sleazy-pleasure-of-baiting-hinduism/
hi,rupang great job.reeviling right things at right time.how wonderful it would be if all these media and journalists
like j.p.,rupang but not like yagneshkumar.
i,dodnot know some body mentioned about modi to go kshmir or something .i,think modi did go when terrorism
was on peak in kashmir and terrorist treatened,modi did go on 15 th.of august and hoist our national flag
well he gave up his youth and family for the service of sangh-parivar.in the stupid emmergency,he did
tremondous job to make people awrae,what is gonig on.he is lion,what those barking people and medias
know about him?any what is the valu of those comment?
anyway in gujarat ,media has no reputatio,no body even watches those sold channel.we know who owns
that channel?
i,think everywhere in the world the private media make mole into mountaian,and govt.media always
praises govt.since indiraji govt.media,used for party and family instrument.president post made rubber-stamp.
what a messup with costitution?vajpayeeji,brought abdul-kalamji,and brought back the pride of prsidency.
you know people like me and there are thousands ,who donot care,watch,listen.
the country politics ha s one lion and that is modi. the survay result sowed 98%people prefer modiji
as p.m.
we listen only and only and only and only about modiji’s good.we donot pay any attention to barkings.
jai………jai………garvi gujarat……….jai..hind.
I hope that the Indian people know that whatever Reverend Jeremiah Wright says it doesn’t represent the views of all of America. Lots of us in America see Jeremiah Wright as a source of shame and view him with contempt.
I don’t feel that this is a case of India’s chickens coming home to roost. Lots of us in America would be appalled at hearing Reverend Jeremiah Wright say “God Damn India”.
It really concerns me that such a low life is so close to our President-elect.
one of reader give advise to deshgujarat write only good thing about modiji otherwise we stop reading deshgujarat and i think in response to that this artical. we respect modiji but what ever he did in bombay was not right time to do.. one more thing i noticed today on media that kerala’s fucking cm speak somthing about great commando mj.sandeep. my humble request to all fucking politician send your son in army or in armed forces then make any statement about them. why all politician son in politics .why they get z security. what is te diffrance between common man and the politician. we pay taxes for our security or for politician . jai hind
my dear friends;
Modiji is the best leader in today’s lot, but not all of his actions are acceptable. Operation was under army’s control, they are the best people for this job. Even if he would not have visited then too NSGs would have done their job professionally.
I can tell you stop praising him for every reason. He is such a nice man; openly admitted many times “be open to critisize me I will improove – and he dose”. But what I see a normal Hindu physiology – kisi guru ka pair pakadalo wo aapake liye sub kuch karenge – ya kisi leader ke pair” earlier I was thinking this site is serving pride gujarati’s but now it seems to be serving only one party and leader.
I ask what so great aadavaniji was doing in rajsthan, he would have attended national meeting if he can not come to delhi then how you expact visit of ISI chief to india.
Politics karavani ghani tak malashe – desh seva ni kok j malashe – ary e seva kari lidhi – neta o temanu kam kare che – kem Unni na pita ye CM ne ghare kem na aava didha – I think this the answer of this debate !!!
Our Ntetas are taking advatage of the situation. They are not smart enough to think that their visit at the site will cause more panic and unsecure for themself and for others, actually they become big hurdle to our security forces in doing their job.
Offering money to the family of the security forces who secrifi’s their life for the country it is good idea and our responsibilties but it should done with great humanatic way. We must wait till dust settle down.
Each city must have team of cammando as per population of the city. We must will to support them financially and provide them all the state of the art equipment to fight all kind of situations!
The only solution to bring these channels – La – News Traders to bring on their knees is to bring CAS, Conditional Access System,then they will come to their sense. The CAS allows viewers to choose, select the channels he/she want to see in the Living Room, NOT the Paid Junk. It would have been better for this story reporter to reveal how much stack are being own by the Non-Indians!!. What the Indian Public will view is NOT decided solemnly by Indians. This Loop hole can be filled when NDA comes to power. All the recent incidents are the result of spilling poison into certain people ears, brain washing their minds by relentlessly bringing Post Godhra scenes on National TV. One can understand that these News Traders are Not doing their National Duty. If CAS comes to all part of India, these News Traders will be vaporized within short period. Shri Narendra Modi commited mountainous misjudgement when he dicided to visit crime scene area and still at the time when certain people Life were at risk. The Army, NSG were strugling to knock them out at the time. Their should be Zero Tolerence Poilcy to exterminate these turmites.
Jay Jay Garvi Gujarat.
Why to forget great India tv that telecast a ‘terrorist’s’ interview on phone and gave him and his third rated thoughts and falsehoods a national millage . Watch the video.
http://ishare.rediff.com/filevideo-Terrorists-speaks-id-519878.php
WHEN TERRORIST COMES IN COUNTRY ?????
– WHEN MALE AND FEMALE OF COUNTRY SLEEPING THEN
HOW TERRORISM STOP ??? WHAT WE CAN DOO IF WE MALE AND FAMELE ???
– WHEN FEMALE MILITARY START…….FEMALE COMMANDO….FEMALE POLICE STATION
– MOSTLY TERRORIST ARE MALE AND FEMALE SO WE DONT HAVE TO AFRAID WITH THEM WE HAVE TO GIVE THEM WORST FIGHT.
– STARTING TERRORIST SANTUARY IN INDIA. SO WORLD PEOPLE COMES FOR VISIT.
I always admire Mr.Modi for his work and intelligence. but by making political comment on the day of attack (about PM) he has made big mistake. he shouldn’t have made this type of comment at least on that day. This is the time for him to look at Safety and Security of Gujarat’s people as it is as same as Bombay. someone shouldn’t make only brave comments but it also need to put in action.
I PRAY AND WISH THAT SHREE NARENDRABHAI BECOMES THE PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA AFTER THE ELECTIONS TO SET THINGS ABOUT INDIA AND ITS MEDIA IN THE PROPER PLACE. THESE MEDIAS LIKE NDTV, CNN, (TVs) THE HINDU (NEWSPAPER) ETC., SHOULD BE MADE TO BITE THE DUST, BY CREATING A HINDU TV CHANNEL FOR 24 HOURS (24×7) TO GIVE FITING REPLIES TO COMMIE ARROGANTS LIKE BURKKA AND RAJDEEP SARDESAI AND THEIR CHIEF PRANAB ROY.
DO YOU KNOW WHO OWNS THESE THRASH CHANNELS LIKE NDTV = NATIONAL DAMAGING TELE VISION:
a) NDTV: Funded by Gospels of Charity in Spain supports Communism. Recently it has developed a soft corner towards Pakistan because Pakistan President has allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan. Indian CEO Prannoy Roy is co-brother (Shaddaka) of Prakash Karat, General Secretary of Communist party of India.
b) CNN-IBN: 100% Funded by Southern Baptist Church with its branches in all over the world with HQ in US. The Church annualy allocates 800 Million Dollars for Promotion of its channel. Its Indian Head is Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghosh.
c) TIMES GROUP LIST: TIMES OF INDIA, MID-DAY, NAV-BHARTH TIMES, STARDUST, FEMINA, VIJAYA TIMES, VIJAYA KARNATAKA, TIMES NOW (24 hr News Channel) & many more. Times Group is owned by Bennet & Coleman. 80% of the Funding is done by “WORLD CHRISTIAN COUNCIL”, and balance 20% is equally shared by an Englishman and an Italian. The Italian ROBERTIO MINDO IS A CLOSE RELATIVE OF SONIA GANDHI.
D) STAR TV: Is run by an Australian, who is supported by St.Peters Pontificial Church Melbourne.
E) HINDUSTAN TIMES: Owned by Birla Group, but hands have changed since Shobana Bhartiya took over. Presently it is working in Collobration with Times Group.
F) The Hindu: A English Daily, started over 125 years has been recently taken over by Joshua Society, Berne, Switzerland.
G) INDIAN EXPRESS: DIVDED INTO TWO GROUPS. THE INDIAN EXPRESS & NEW INDIAN EXPRESS (SOUTHERN EDITION). Acts Ministries has major stake in the Indian express and later is still with the Indian counterpart
H) EENADU: Still to date controlled by an Indian named Ramoji Rao
I) Andhra Jyothi: The MUSLIM PARTY OF HYDERABAD known as (MIM) along with a Congress Minister Has purchased this Telgu daily very recently.
j) The Statesman: It is controlled by Communist Party of India
k) Kairali TV: It is controlled by Communist party of India (Marxist)
l) Mathrabhoomi: leaders of Muslim league and Communist Leaders have major investment.
L) Asian Age & Deccan Chronicle: Is owned by a Saudi Arabian Company with its chief Editor M.J.AKBAR.
THANKS FOR GIVING AN OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE THIS MALL PIECE OF INFORMATION
Hello Rupang,
Bravo sir, Bravo. It is an excellent article. But tell me one thing, why are we just displaying all these emotions here but not in act. Also, I saw number of readers writing about “modi has not good thing…” .. so who has done it? Our PM and all other politicians were even affraid of speaking the “neighbouring nation” name.. where he was the only one at that time who directly pointed towards Pakistan.
Also, somebody asked to send politician’s son to Army. Would we do the same? How many people from any of the reader’s family are in Army ? I bet not even 1 %. Including me…
So thats where lies the main problem. Everybody wants to blame politicians, police and media, but what about us? Citizens, we the people, don’t even thinkof taking responsibility. Did we ever do that? No we did not.
So my humble suggestions, please write comments, light candels, sign posters and protest on the street for couple of days , then go to home , forget all Army crap…and invest in stock again, make money, send your kids to USA , UK , Australia, etc. ( infact I am that one of the betrayers ) , live peaceful life ……..eat …sleep…….and wake up with the newspapers telling the same crap… and you speaking the same thing…again ..and again… and …again…..
DON’T ACT !!! JUST SPEAK… THAT’s WHAT WE ARE …. INDIANS …..
Now say JAI HIND … (if you are not cheating yourself….)
the fishermen who were killed should also be treated with respect like others martrys.They should not be treated with suspicion as if they traitors. Afterall they were also killed by terrorists like Karkare, Kamte& kalaskar.Just because they poor & illiterate?!People of Gujarat should support them wholeheartedly.
Modi for dictator/Raja
News channels showed Kerkere in a civil dress just with helmet and then showed him with a helmet and trying to uncomfortably wear the bullet proof jacket.
The terrorists came to know that the police men had a so called Bullet proof jacket.
The channels are responsible for the gory death of hostages informing terrorists where were all the VIP guests.For eg The fact that Times of India editor Sabina was in the sixth floor room no— was revealed by NDTV 24X7 barkha Dutt. The terrorists wanted max publicity and such high profile guest and room no was enough for them to eliminate her.This same channel and reporter Barkaha Dutt was responsible for the death of Capt Vikram in Kargil by broadcasting his position live and next day enemy targetted him.
Newsblackout is important .So many lives could have been saved
They have also put lives of NSG commandos in danger by identifying their faces.|
I compliment the Navy MARCOS who were in interview with their face covered. At least they kept their secrecy.
Ban the news channel coverage.In such situatin only channel should be a DD channel or an Army channel which can be hosted during operatiosns
Apart from the other major politicians playing their blame game and trying to pacify the crowd, Narendra Modi Chief Minister of Gujarat offered compensation in the tune of Rs 1 Crore to the wife of the Martyr – ATS Chief Hemant Karkare. But Mrs. Karkare refused to take the compensation – probably did not want to insult the Martyr death. It was Mr. Modi who blamed Hemant Karkare for targeting Hindu Religious Leaders in the Malegaon Blast case. Late ATS Chief Hemant Karkare was investigating the Malegaon Bomb Blast, where many prominent Hindu leaders and Army Personals were suspected.
No Youth from well placed family joins police force or armed forces.No IIT or MBAs from IIM join police or army.The Govt short changes them in the pay commission and there is no one to cry for them.
The corporates do not employ ex armed forces officers and men or if they employ them pay them ridiculously low salaries
But when a crisis erupts all patriotic jingoism and cries and candle lights are lit.
If all these people really feel for it let them send their sons to army and police and care about the nation.
Simple TV soundbytes are not a solution.
Let the forces get top class IITians and MBAs and see what they can do to protect the nation
Even as the nation felt searing pain and anger over the death of more than 195 people— including foreigners — in the terrorist attack on Mumbai, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi merrily partied. According to a report carried on Monday by a tabloid, Mail Today, Congress general secretary and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi went partying on Saturday with his pals at a farmhouse on Delhi’s outskirts.
The ‘Prince’ partied hard, till 5 in the morning, at the ‘sangeet’ ceremony for the wedding of Samir Sharma, one of his childhood friends. The gathering was at a sprawling farmhouse at Radhey Mohan Chowk, the haven of people who lead charmed lives, beyond Chhhatarpur. A close aide of Rahul confirmed his presence at the function.
“Rahulji was in Rajasthan on Saturday. He attended four rallies there and returned to Delhi at 10 pm. Later, he went to this party that was pre-scheduled,” said a staff member on the condition of anonymity. He said that Rahul was at the farmhouse with Samir Sharma, the US-based furniture designer son of Captain Satish Sharma, the late Rajiv Gandhi’s flying partner. Capt Sharma had nursed the Gandhi family’s pocketborough, Rae Bareli, till Sonia Gandhi chose to contest from there in 2004.
“Why raise such a hue and cry over a small and pre-scheduled party?” he asked. Gandhi’s media coordinator Pankaj Shankar, on the other hand, refused comment on the issue. ref dailypioneer
Sir, I genuinely feel that the media newsreporters are terrorists with mike in their hands and spilling words that are as harmful (in a different sense) as the bullets of those terrorists who sprayed bullets and granades. I felt so sad when all channels are so biased. Malayalam channels were busy asking their reporters the most provacative questions like “How many Malayalees died”. Suvarna news (Kannada) and Asianet news (Malayalam) both were claiming that Major Unnikrishnan was from their state when he is hero for all Indians. So are all others who lost their lives. Same type of questions were asked by Star Majha (Marathi) and all regional language channels. The less said about English Language so-called self-assigned “SECULAR” media the better. Remember the way Malagon Blast Investigations were blared throught day and night, and hardly any coverage for Assam bomb blasts. Even the final Court Verdict of Bangalore concerning church bomb blasts in Bangalore, Wadi (Gulbarga), IN Andhra etc carried out by Deendar Anjuman, where 11 terrorists were awarded Death sentence on 27th Nov was not even mentioned. How come an on-going investigation with perodic selective media leaks is more important than even a court verdict. Is it secularism, freedom or democracy ? Or is it madness and anarchy of the worst kind ?
Honestly, to tacke terrorism, we need to fight at least on 25 different fronts from as serious matter as having tough law, stricter implementation with human face, strengthening juidiciary and all military and para-military agencies to acting on media, religious leaders, political leaders etc . When State Governments are busy giving free TVs etc ignoring the need for CCTVs in important palces, what to say ?
Freedom is meaningful only and only if the other side, Responsibility is given equal importance. – God Save India, with out present approach.
What Navy chief says was correct.There was no specific warning.What is given by so called intelligence agencies is like weather forecast.
Asking Navt and coastguard to guard every inch of 7500 km coast line is like sending one policemen to guard the whole of south mumbai.
For years Ministry of defence Babus have throttled expansion of Navy.
Now Navy chief cannot say that in public.
Navy is a professional organization.Let us atleast show some patriotism and not abuse it for such candid remarks.
Till NSG commandos came it was the Marine commandos who held fort and freed hostages.
Salute Navy for what they did and Navy chief for speaking out
Partying Rahul raises hackles
Staff Reporter | New Delhi
The Pioneer
Dec. 2, 2008
Even as the nation felt searing pain and anger over the death of more than 195 people— including foreigners — in the terrorist attack on Mumbai, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi merrily partied. According to a report carried on Monday by a tabloid, Mail Today, Congress general secretary and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi went partying on Saturday with his pals at a farmhouse on Delhi’s outskirts.
The ‘Prince’ partied hard, till 5 in the morning, at the ‘sangeet’ ceremony for the wedding of Samir Sharma, one of his childhood friends. The gathering was at a sprawling farmhouse at Radhey Mohan Chowk, the haven of people who lead charmed lives, beyond Chhhatarpur. A close aide of Rahul confirmed his presence at the function.
“Rahulji was in Rajasthan on Saturday. He attended four rallies there and returned to Delhi at 10 pm. Later, he went to this party that was pre-scheduled,” said a staff member on the condition of anonymity. He said that Rahul was at the farmhouse with Samir Sharma, the US-based furniture designer son of Captain Satish Sharma, the late Rajiv Gandhi’s flying partner. Capt Sharma had nursed the Gandhi family’s pocketborough, Rae Bareli, till Sonia Gandhi chose to contest from there in 2004.
“Why raise such a hue and cry over a small and pre-scheduled party?” he asked. Gandhi’s media coordinator Pankaj Shankar, on the other hand, refused comment on the issue. “I am not a spokesperson, I just coordinate among mediapersons and Rahul Gandhi. Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan has clarified the issue,” said Shankar.
On Sunday, Rahul’s sister Priyanka Vadra had caused a flutter by saying that late Indira Gandhi would have “made us very proud” by the way she would have reacted to the Mumbai terror strike.
As per the report published by the tabloid, Saturday night’s ‘sangeet’ was a lavish affair. Leena Musafir, the sister of the woman with whom Samir is getting married, and her husband Inder, hosted it. Over 800 guests, including regulars at Page 3 dos, attended the party. Later, however, Rahul was quoted in another tabloid, Metro Now, saying, “It seems as if someone entered my house and slapped me.”
The tabloid stated that Rahul made this comment while addressing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), which had reportedly been called to discuss the impact of the attack on the party and the country.
But what about the Prime Minister?
A Surya Prakash
The Pioneer
Dec. 2, 2008
The pall of gloom and shame that enveloped the nation in the immediate aftermath of the audacious terrorist attack on Mumbai last week has since given way to unprecedented anger across the country over the deliberate and criminal neglect of national security by the United Progressive Alliance. Unable to cope with the heat, the coalition has quickly dumped Home Minister Shivraj Patil and is promising to slay a few more scapegoats at the altar of public opinion in the hope that these ministerial and bureaucratic ‘executions’ will douse public wrath.
The people at large, however, should not fall for the bait and lower their guard because the relief that these ‘sacrifices’ will provide us will only be temporary and cosmetic. As everyone is aware, the ruling coalition and the Congress which heads it are simply unwilling to tackle the original sin that has brought this great nation to its knees, namely the mistaken notion that they can consolidate Muslim votes if they go slow on Muslim terrorists. Nor is it ready to punish the original sinners — the persons who preside over the coalition and the Government and thus dictate and execute policies that have brought things to such a pass.
The country has become vulnerable to repeated terrorist strikes because of the diabolical and cynical pursuit of vote-bank politics by this coalition since it came to power in May 2004. Here are a few examples of the UPA’s blinkered approach and the crass vote chase that some of its leading lights have been indulging in: The Government repeals POTA and holds back clearance of anti-terror laws enacted by Gujarat and Rajasthan; Union Ministers and leading politicians associated with the ruling coalition fall one over the other to empathise with families of persons arrested in connection with the terrorist attacks in Ahmedabad; UPA Ministers and politicians question the integrity of Delhi Police and describe the encounter between the police and terrorists at Jamia Nagar as “fake” despite the martyrdom of a police officer; the Government stands on false prestige even after hundreds of citizens are killed in terrorist bombings and rejects advice to bring in strong, deterrent legal measures to combat terrorism; a Union Minister demands citizenship rights for 20 million illegal immigrants from Bangladesh who pose a threat to the nation’s safety and security; and finally, in a desperate bid to clinch the Muslim vote before the next Lok Sabha election, the Government turns away from the real threat to national security and dissipates its energies and resources chasing the chimera of ‘Hindu terror’.
The UPA has let us down on many counts. The coalition is so fixated on Muslim votes that it jettisoned POTA simply because this law had been introduced by the BJP. Egged on by a small bunch of pseudo-secularists whose hearts bleed only for terrorists and secessionists, the UPA coalition also took the fateful decision to deny states like Gujarat and Rajasthan the right to frame stringent anti-terrorism laws. The BJP has pointedly asked, and rightly so, as to how it is legitimate for the Congress-led Government in Maharashtra to have a strong anti-terrorism law like MCOCA, but it is illegitimate for Gujarat and Rajasthan to have an identical law. Similarly, although MCOCA was extended to Delhi in 2002, why is it not used against the accused in terrorism cases in Delhi? How is it that MCOCA is used against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and other accused in the Malegaon blast but the same law is not applied to persons arrested on terrorism charges in the Capital?
Further, the Prime Minister and the Congress president are so obsessed with the minority vote that they have even shelved the advice of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission — headed by a senior Congressman, Mr Veerappa Moily — that the Union Government should bring in a stringent anti-terror law. It declared last June that extraordinary crimes like terrorism “require extraordinary provisions” and investigators and prosecutors need to be empowered with “stringent legal provisions” in regard to investigation, bail and trial.
This issue was raised after the Indian Mujahideen conducted a terrorist strike in New Delhi last September in which 25 people were killed and dozens of others were injured. But both the Prime Minister and the Congress president are adamant. They got one of their senior Ministers to debunk the ‘Moily Report’ and falsely claim that India has stronger anti-terrorism laws than the US and the UK! The ARC also recommended a federal agency to combat terrorism. It said the CBI should be reconstituted as the Central Bureau of Intelligence and Investigation with a separate Anti-Terrorism Division.
Needless to say, the people are paying a heavy price for the Government’s reluctance to act on the report of its own ARC. Yet another unpleasant example of minority appeasement degenerating into terrorist appeasement is the manner in which the Government is dragging its feet on the hanging of Mohammad Afzal Guru, who has been sentenced to death for his involvement in the terrorist attack on Parliament House. Why has he not been sent to the gallows? Because the Congress thinks that it will lose Muslim votes if it does so!
The nation has been subject to regular and outrageous serial strikes by terrorists over the last few years. There were many incidents when the BJP was in power. There have been many more after the UPA took charge. So, where is the difference? The difference is that while both Governments have presided over an incompetent security apparatus, the latter must take the blame for sending out all the wrong signals and discouraging anti-terrorist initiatives by the security forces. The difference is one of intentions (niyat). The intentions of the present Government are not genuine. It appears ready to sacrifice the lives of innocent citizens, in order to keep alive a so-called vote-bank. The responsibility for this rests squarely on the shoulders of the Prime Minister and the UPA chairperson who is the de facto Prime Minister. They must be held accountable for all the lives lost in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Bangalore, New Delhi, Mumbai and elsewhere, and for putting us to shame before the international community. They should not be allowed to shift the blame onto some scapegoats. If we do not quickly ease out the real culprits from their seats of power, public fury may consume all that we hold dear — our civilisational ethos, our democratic way of life and our Constitution. We should not allow this to happen.
Kudos to this article
That NGO channel has now started announcing that Re.1 from the income generated by Candle burning SMS would go to people affected by the Mumbai attack.
nice analyzsis by chintan joshi.. – just one more comment. people are not suffering because of UPA govt. People are suffering because they are not going for vote. in 2004 election it was around 35% of voting in countery.
these 35% voting came from vary low class and rest of from bagladesi.. in this case why any goverment will work for you even we never vote…
Impact of this article has been gigantic.
Now Indian Express has also come with the article on similar thing however differently.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Terror-coverage–how-much-is-too-much/39385
Also read this PTI news. It is about government considering more control over news channels.
http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/4E09EF9278CFA8B16525751400565DDA?OpenDocument
One more thing. India TV which shamefully telecasted ‘terrorist’s interview’ has been given a notice by the government.
Strict actions should be taken to the channels.
Read this paragraph from AFP story too which has narrated bit about media’s role:
Breathless media coverage of the unfolding drama drew fire not only from residents but also the paramilitary National Security Guard (NSG), which led the operation against the militants.
“Television channels airing live feed of commandos being air-dropped on to a building captured by terrorists not only compromised our safety but also took away the element of surprise,” the Hindustan Times quoted NSG sources as saying.
MODI ON RS. 1 CRORE ANNOUNCEMENT THING IN RAJASTHAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN
“In his rallies at Tonk, Bharatpur, Jalor and Dungarpur, Modi said the Congress raised a hue and cry when he went to Mumbai to announce the Rs 1 crore ‘Sanman Rashi’for the relatives of the dead policemen.
He said the Congress party had donated Rs 1 lakh to the family of Ishrat Jahan, a terrorist, and had termed her a martyr. The Congressmen were silenced only when Pakistan itself declared Ishrat was a terrorist, he said.
Ishrat Jahan, a Mumbai girl was killed in an encounter in Ahmedabad in an alleged conspiracy to kill Modi along with three others. The matter is in the Gujarat High Court. “
Hello Everyone,
Congres’s Mistake doesn’t give right to BJP to do Mistakes OK !!!! OK!!!! Agree!!!!!!!
Mistake is always Mistake even it is done by MM singh or Modi…….. Because of the such mentality ( Our Party can do mistakes but not opposite) our Indian Pride gone in Mumbai…
WE, THE PEOPLE
The Mumbai tragedy and the English language news media
Mukul Kesavan
The Telegraph
December 4, 2008
“Go to the Four Seasons and look down from the top floor at the slums around you. Do you know what flags you will see? Not the Congress’s, not the BJP’s, not the Shiv Sena’s. Pakistan! Pakistani flags fly high!… You know what I think? We should carpet-bomb Pakistan. That’s the only way we can give a clear message.”
Simi Garewal later apologized for this little outburst on the television show, We, the People. She said she had mistaken Muslim flags for Pakistani ones. She had a harder time explaining away her ‘carpet bombing’ prescription. She claimed that she had meant to suggest a covert attack like the below-the-radar missions Americans so often undertake in Pakistan’s borderlands. Carpet-bombing is hard to do discreetly, but we shouldn’t make too much of this because the point isn’t Simi Garewal and her gaffe: it’s the way the English language news media covered the Mumbai tragedy.
The idiom of the coverage of the terror attack on Mumbai was in part shaped by the need to say something, anything, in the face of horror and evil. The need to voice not just their own feelings but the need to be a proxy for the People, to anticipate and echo a public revulsion, seemed to overwhelm reporters and studio anchors.
The wild-eyed animation with which they spoke seemed prompted by the belief that calm, even lucidity, was an inappropriate response to tragedy. Barkha Dutt’s agitation as she reported from sites attacked by the terrorists was so extreme that on occasion she seemed to hyper-ventilate on camera. Further away from the tragedy, in a studio, Arnab Goswami ratcheted up the hectoring self-righteousness that has come to define his manner, as he and Times TV seek to position the channel as India’s answer to Fox News.
Rajdeep Sardesai managed to be composed, compassionate and knowledgeable at Hemant Karkare’s funeral, but CNN IBN made up for that later by framing their reports on the terror strikes in gory graphics that could have been borrowed from the credits of a Ramsay Brothers horror movie. With the reporters, the excitement was understandable: it’s hard to be calm with bombs going off, bullets flying about and a landmark building burning in front of you. But there were aspects of the coverage that didn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.
During the crisis, the foregrounding of the Taj was inevitable. It was the site of the longest battle and the hideous drama of its near-destruction was bound to be framed by any sensible cameraman. But it’s still worth making the point Shyam Benegal made, that the dozens of people killed in VT (or CST) station and their grieving relatives and friends got very little screen time. When VT figured in the coverage, it was there for CCTV grabs of the T-shirted terrorist.
The Taj, we were told over and over again, is an ‘iconic’ building. I think we can say without controversy that Victoria Terminus is much the greater landmark both architecturally and in terms of the number of people who pass through it. It may not be ‘home’ to them, in the way that the Taj clearly was for the many fluent habitués of South Mumbai who filed past the cameras of the English news channels, but more Mumbaikars have taken trains to and from VT than have sampled the hospitality of the Taj. And yet we didn’t have people on television reminiscing about the station and what it meant to them, that storied building that has been the beginning and the end of a billion journeys. Even the details of the killing, the alertness of the public address system operator who had platforms cleared and thus minimized the carnage, trickled out later, as the platform tragedy that had happened was eclipsed by the hotel tragedy that was still ‘breaking news’.
I can’t remember the last time that social class so clearly defined the coverage of a public event, or one in which people spoke so unselfconsciously from their class positions. The English news channels became mega-churches in which hotel-going Indians found catharsis and communion. Person after person claimed the Taj as home. Memories of courtship, marriage, celebration, friendship, the quick coffee, the saved-up-for snack, the sneaked lavatory visit, came together to frame the burning Taj in a halo of affection.
The novelist, Aravind Adiga, said in an interview with the BBC: “One of the differences between India and other countries is that a lot of our civic space is contained within the five-star hotels. They have a different function here for us, they are places where marriages happen, where people of all economic backgrounds go for a coffee. For the Taj Mahal to be attacked is somewhat like the town hall being attacked in some other place… .” I’d wager that 99 per cent of VT’s commuters haven’t seen the inside of the Sea Lounge. Whatever else they are, five-star establishments in India are not democratic civic spaces. Few Mumbaikars think the Taj Mahal Hotel is their city’s hôtel de ville.
The Trident, being less ‘iconic’, didn’t get quite the same attention as the Taj, but it wasn’t left out. Shekhar Gupta used his column on the edit-page of the Indian Express to write a thousand-word homage to the Trident. This included descriptions of his sleeping preferences, the number of nights he had logged at the Trident and the considerateness of the hotel staff.
This takes us back to that third hotel, the one we began with, back to Simi Garewal on the top floor of the Four Seasons, looking down at the slums below her, aflutter with sinister flags. Forget the fact that she mistook Islamic flags for Pakistani ones; anyone can make a mistake, and she’s apologized for hers. What’s interesting here is the lack of embarrassment with which she pictures herself and people-like-her staring down disapprovingly from a great, air-conditioned height at hovels and squalor.
Usually, privileged English-speaking Indians have the tact to be politically correct in their public statements; but in the middle of terror and tragedy, the sense of social self-preservation that keeps them from crassness, disappears. “Go to the Four Seasons and look down from the top floor at the slums around you.” That ‘you’ is us: Telegraph-reading, hotel-going people, who, in the heat of the moment and because of the death of people we know (or know of), become the world.
English and American papers treated the terror attack as an assault on the West. The terrorists had, after all, specifically looked for American and British citizens to murder. Ironically, even as NDTV, CNN-IBN and Times Now put hotel guests at the heart of the horror and bumped train commuters to its periphery, older English-speaking peoples counted their dead and dimly regretted all Indian casualties as collateral damage. In that residual category, if nowhere else, the Indian dead remained one People.
mukulkesavan@hotmail.com
S U B V E R S E
Terrorised by TV
Anil Dharker
Sixty hours after the 26/11 trauma began and the last terrorist had been killed, one first heard the phrase “TV terrorism”. Did that mean terror on TV? No, was the common reply. We mean TV terror. Since then the phrase keeps recurring in conversations and there’s now no doubt what it means: there are many viewers who feel that our television channels in their coverage of the horrific attack on Mumbai unleashed their own brand of terror.
The criticism centres on four charges. The first is of elitism. In those 60 hours when television covered the carnage, attention was focused almost exclusively on the Taj and Oberoi hotels with some time given to the commando operations at Nariman House. There was virtually no airtime given to the attacks on Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) or Cama Hospital. Yet the mayhem began there and 54 people were killed. Is that because the dead there were not from the elite? Is that because grieving relatives and friends of those killed are more photogenic when they are fair of skin and well-dressed and their mourning is more restrained?
TV channels may well say that they concentrated on the hotels and Nariman House because they were continuing stories, whereas the incidents at CST and Cama were over within the first few hours of the attacks. But their reluctance to go back to these sites and tell viewers of what happened is an omission that cannot be easily justified. It’s not as if there were no stories there. There were enough human interest angles to be covered, like the chaiwala who risked his life to save people, or the motorman of an incoming train who made people get off on a safer platform, or the startling fact that nearly 40 per cent of the people killed across the city were Muslims.
The second criticism is about TV channels becoming the unwitting tools of the terrorists. During the siege of the Taj almost all channels ran the story that 150 people had taken refuge in its Chambers Club. When they were given the signal to leave they found the terrorists waiting for them; only a few escaped being brutally gunned down. The inference is clear. We, sitting in our homes weren’t the only ones watching television. The terrorists were too.
Then there were the NSG commandos — quite rightly everyone’s heroes. But even heroes are not able to resist the lure of television. There they were sitting in a group in their black cat uniforms as if posing for a passing out photograph, though their faces were covered to mask their identities. Their spokesman though wore a diaphanous black cloth over his face through which you could see his features. But that wasn’t all he revealed.
He spoke of the difficulties of the operation, about the problems of moving around in the hotel in the dark when they didn’t have drawings of the interior layouts. The first rule of battle is that you do not reveal your weaknesses to the enemy. Yet here was the NSG doing just that. Who requested the briefing? Did the channels not see the inherent danger in this exercise?
The third criticism is about the channels’ competitiveness. In a time of national calamity many people say, why was there so much emphasis on airing ‘exclusives’? On the fourth point, there is near-complete unanimity. “Why were the anchors so loud and hysterical? Why couldn’t they be more restrained?” As it happens, there were quite a number of television journalists who were balanced, moderate and tried to be dispassionate. And then there were others who shouted rather than spoke and were emotional to the point of being overwrought. These anchors may have become genuinely overcharged because of the situation but viewers want them to be detached, composed and objective.
I saw first-hand how tireless, persistent and yes, brave, TV journalists and their crew were on the field, quite often laying themselves open to being killed by a stray bullet or sniper fire. Yet, the growing criticism shows that this can be counterproductive. Clearly it’s time for TV networks to introspect.
The writer is a Mumbai-based public affairs commentator.