Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Media now demonising entire cities of India, after demonising entire communities
The greatest danger to India’s integrity and security comes not from politicians, terrorists or police, but from the insensitive and immature initiatives by the media. A new trend is to focus on entire towns and cities, as the hotbed of terrorism. Azamgargh and Bhatkal are now the flavour of the season. Any sober thinker will agree that by such infantile exercises of demonising of an entire city, we are demonising, our own law and order authorities, our own people who are in the saddle in these now suspect areas. There does appear any method to this madness, except if you take up the remote possibility that there is design to focus all Muslim concentration areas and put them under pressure, so that the ruling clique can deal with the demoralized Muslims in a high-handed manner on the basis of their ‘debased’ catagorisation. British colonials had a policy of declaring a whole community as ‘criminal’, or Western imperialists summarily declare a whole community or country as terrorist country and start adverse actions against them; thus legitimizing their nefarious plans against their adversaries. It seems that same policy, under foreign guidance is being followed by media, that first demonised the whole community as well as their religion and now switched to go piece-meal as and when politics demands their help in neutralizing all opposition to the ruling oligarchs.
The test of secular evenhandedness will come about when media starts declaring the towns and cities associated with the arrested Sangh Parivar accused, and sends out reporters to dig out how deeply such terrorist activities had been supported by the people of those cities at large.
There is no doubt that the marauding West has chosen Media as the most effective and the most preferred vanguard instrument of its policy of carrying war to opposing camps. The Age of Communication has further made the task much swifter, much more effective and much more economical. We in India, who are now become the willy-nilly clients of the western dominance in practical all affairs of our existence. It is now for the people of India to be on guard as to how this western co-opting of our media can impact our polity and how we become victims of other people’s machination; as the control and management of this powerful instrument of public policy is increasingly getting out of our hands. For us to safeguard our freedoms, our integrity, our unity, our security, we must guard against all such nefarious initiatives by our media and condemn them as soon as they raise their heads.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com
www.ghulammuhammed.wordpress.com
